I have been made redundant. What payment am I entitled to?

If you are an employee with at least two years in your job, you are entitled to a redundancy payment.

The law sets a minimum payment. This is normally paid by your employer, but the state will pay if your employer has gone bust.

Of course there is nothing to stop your employer doing better than the legal minimum. Sometimes there will be a redundancy scheme in your contract of employment, in other cases your union will be able to negotiate more than the minimum and sometimes employers want to soften the blow, especially if they are looking for volunteers for redundancy.

But if you are only getting the legal minimum. this is how it is worked out:

• half a week's pay for every year of service while you were under 22
• one week's pay for every year of service between 22 and 40
• one and a half week's pay for every year of service over 41

There is a limit to a week's pay for statutory redundancy purposes, currently £330 as of 1 February 2008, and a limit of 30 weeks pay. This means that the maximum payment under the statutory scheme is currently £9,900 - ie 30 weeks at £330.

There is a helpful and free leaflet from the TUC Facing Redundancy. It is available on the web or from the know your rights line 0870 600 4882 (national rate, 8am-10pm).