Redundancy Advice

I recently volunteered for redundancy, was accepted and given a leaving date of the end of December. I asked if I could leave in September as I'd made some alternative plans (the new opportunity can only start in September and I am desperate not to miss out). The company said No due to a project which will need as much manpower as possible.

I was informed of my acceptance verbally in February but have never received anything in writing. I have read something today that suggests my notice period starts when i am formally advised of the date. I have a notice period of 14 weeks and wondered if I could obtain my leaving date in writing, I could leave 14 weeks after the receipt of the confirmation.

Any help/advice welcome..

Hi JR

Your notice period will no doubt be expressed as a minimum (statutory notice periods are), so there would be nothing to stop your employer giving you a longer period of notice. However, when you are given notice of redundancy you are entitled to serve counter-notice, to leave earlier and to still retain your redundancy payment. This applies, however, only during the 'obligatory period of notice', which in your case will be the final 14 weeks of the notice period as that is your contractual entitlement. If you were to serve counter-notice earlier you would lose your right to a redundancy payment.

Even if you were to serve counter-notice, your employer does not have to accept it and can insist you work out your full notice if they have sound reasons for doing so. If you were still to leave early in those circumstances you may lose your redundancy payment (only an employment tribunal would be able to determine in law whether your reasons for wanting to leave early outweighed the employer's reasons for wanting to retain you and, therefore, whether you should get the redundancy payment or not).

If you have had nothing more specific then I suggest your employer has just stated at this stage that your application for VR has been accepted in principal, and that they anticipate you leaving in December, but they have not formally served notice yet. In which case, you would need to resign in order to take up the new job (and lose any entitlement to redundancy pay).

You need to decide whether it is worth hanging on for redundancy or whether you would be better off forfeiting it in order to have better prospects in the long run.

Hope that helps

Pete