Redundancy Pay Calculator United Kingdom

This redundancy pay calculator applies the 2026/27 statutory rules to your age, length of service and weekly pay, so you can see the legal minimum you are owed and check an employer’s offer against it. Statutory redundancy pay is a floor: your employer can pay more through an enhanced scheme, never less.

How statutory redundancy pay is worked out

The scheme gives longer-serving and older workers a bigger multiplier. For each full year you were employed you earn a number of weeks’ pay that depends on your age during that year: half a week for a year worked while under 22, a full week for years aged 22 to 40, and one and a half weeks for years aged 41 and over. Because the age band is judged year by year, someone who has worked through several age brackets builds up a mix of rates. The calculator works backwards from your current age, places each year of service in the right band and adds up the weeks.

The weekly pay cap and service limit

Two ceilings limit the statutory figure. Only 20 years of service count, so a 30-year career is treated as 20 years. Weekly pay is capped at £751 for 2026/27: if you earn £900 a week the calculation still uses £751, and if you earn £400 your actual pay is used. These limits fix the statutory maximum however large your salary, which is why well-paid, long-serving employees often negotiate an enhanced package that ignores the cap.

Who qualifies

You generally need at least two years of continuous service with the employer, and you must be genuinely redundant: your role has gone, rather than you being dismissed for another reason. Employees whose fixed-term contracts are not renewed can qualify, as can those whose workplace closes. Unreasonably turning down a suitable offer of alternative work can cost you the entitlement. With fewer than two full years of service the calculator returns £0; otherwise it assumes you meet the other conditions and works out the sum due.

A worked example

Take someone aged 45 with 10 full years of service earning £500 a week. Working back from 45, the years at ages 44, 43, 42 and 41 fall in the 41-plus band, giving four years at one and a half weeks, or six weeks. The next six years, ages 40 down to 35, are in the 22-to-40 band at one week each, adding six weeks, for 12 weeks in total. Their £500 weekly pay is below the £751 cap, so the payment is 12 × £500 = £6,000. On £900 a week, only £751 would be used, giving 12 × £751 = £9,012.

Statutory versus enhanced and the wider package

The figure here is the statutory minimum set by the age bands, the 20-year limit and the £751 weekly cap. Many employers, particularly larger ones and those with union agreements, run enhanced schemes that lift or remove the weekly cap, count more years or pay a flat multiple of full salary. If your weekly pay is well above £751, an enhanced offer can be worth several times the statutory sum, so use the statutory figure as the baseline to check an offer against.

Redundancy pay is also one line in a larger settlement. You are usually entitled to contractual or statutory notice pay (or pay in lieu of notice), any accrued but untaken holiday, and sometimes an ex-gratia sum agreed in a settlement agreement. The statutory redundancy element and the rest of a genuine termination package are tax-free up to the £30,000 limit, but notice pay and unpaid wages are taxed as normal earnings, so the total on an offer letter can differ from what reaches your account.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Using full weekly pay above the cap. Only the first £751 a week counts for 2026/27.
• Counting partial years. The scheme uses full years only, so eleven years and nine months counts as eleven.
• Forgetting the two-year rule. With under two years of continuous service there is no statutory entitlement, though a contract may still promise something.
• Using your age today for every year. The half-week, one-week and one-and-a-half-week rates depend on how old you were during each year worked.
• Assuming the payment is taxed like salary. The statutory element is free of Income Tax and National Insurance.
• Accepting an offer without checking it. An employer can pay more than the statutory minimum, but paying less is unlawful.

Assumptions and limitations

This is an estimate for planning. It uses the 2026/27 statutory weekly pay cap, stored as a parameter sourced from gov.uk and reviewed each April, with the standard age bands and the 20-year service limit. It returns £0 below the two-year qualifying period, counts full years only and assumes a genuine redundancy. It does not model notice pay, holiday pay, enhanced contractual schemes or the tax treatment of the wider termination package. For a decision that affects your finances, check the current gov.uk guidance or take advice from Acas or an employment specialist.

About This Redundancy Pay Calculator

Use this redundancy pay calculator to get an instant, accurate estimate. The figures follow official GOV.UK guidance and every rate and threshold is kept up to date for 2026. Adjust the inputs above to match your situation, or browse all our calculators to plan your next step.