Your current age (or age at date of redundancy)
Full years with your current employer (maximum 20 count)
Your gross weekly pay before deductions (capped at £751 for statutory calculation)
You need at least 2 years of continuous service with your employer to qualify for statutory redundancy pay.
Quick redundancy pay reference
| Scenario | Years | Statutory Pay |
|---|---|---|
| Age 25, £500/wk | 3 | £1,500.00 |
| Age 30, £600/wk | 5 | £3,000.00 |
| Age 35, £700/wk | 10 | £7,000.00 |
| Age 45, £700/wk | 10 | £8,400.00 |
| Age 45, £700/wk | 15 | £11,900.00 |
| Age 50, £700/wk | 20 | £17,150.00 |
| Age 55, £700/wk | 20 | £18,900.00 |
How statutory redundancy pay works
If you have been employed for 2 or more continuous years and your employer is making you redundant, you are entitled to statutory redundancy pay. The amount depends on three factors: your age, your length of service, and your weekly gross pay (subject to a cap).
The formula
Your service is broken into years, and each year is worth a different number of weeks depending on your age during that year:
Aged 22-40: 1 week's pay per year
Aged 41+: 1.5 weeks' pay per year
Only the most recent 20 years of service are counted. Your weekly pay is capped at £751 (2026/27 rate) even if you earn more.
Who qualifies?
You must be an employee (not a contractor, freelancer, or agency worker) with at least 2 years of continuous service. Your job must be genuinely redundant, meaning the employer is closing, the workplace is closing, or there is less need for employees to do your particular type of work.
What about tax?
Statutory redundancy pay is completely tax-free. If your employer offers an enhanced package, the first £30,000 of any redundancy payment (including the statutory amount) is tax-free. Only the portion above £30,000 is taxed as income. Payments in lieu of notice are treated separately and are taxable.
The weekly pay cap
The government sets a maximum weekly pay figure each year. For 2026/27, the cap is £751. Even if you earn £1,500 per week, your statutory redundancy is calculated using £751. This cap is reviewed annually and typically increases each April.
Worked examples for redundancies from 6 April 2026
Each example was run through the calculator above with the inputs shown. Weekly pay means gross average weekly pay over the 12 weeks before the redundancy notice. The examples assume England, Scotland or Wales and statutory pay only, with no enhanced contractual scheme.
Aged 45, 10 years' service, £600 a week
The 4 most recent full years were worked at 41 or over and earn 1.5 weeks each. The 6 years before that, at ages 22 to 40, earn 1 week each. That is 12 weeks in total, and at £600 a week (under the cap) the statutory payment is £7,200.00.
Aged 30, 6 years' service, £900 a week
All 6 years fall in the 22 to 40 band, so the employee gets 6 weeks. Pay above the weekly cap is ignored, so each week counts at £751, not £900. The statutory payment is £4,506.00. Higher earners often expect redundancy pay to track salary; above the cap it does not.
Aged 62, 25 years' service, £800 a week
Only the last 20 years count, and all of them were worked at 41 or over: 20 times 1.5 is 30 weeks. At the £751 cap that gives £22,530.00, the most statutory redundancy pay anyone can receive for a redundancy on or after 6 April 2026.
Rules that change the answer
Two years' service and the caps
You normally qualify if you are an employee with 2 or more years with your current employer. You get half a week's pay for each full year under 22, one week for each full year from 22 to 40, and one and a half weeks for each full year at 41 or over. Service is capped at 20 years, and for redundancies on or after 6 April 2026 weekly pay is capped at £751, giving a maximum of £22,530 (GOV.UK: Redundancy pay, checked 30 October 2026).
Northern Ireland is different
Northern Ireland sets its own weekly pay limit, currently £783, so this calculator will understate a payment there when pay is above £751 (nidirect: Redundancy pay, checked 30 October 2026).
Notice pay is separate
Statutory notice is at least one week if you have worked between one month and 2 years, one week per year between 2 and 12 years, and 12 weeks after 12 years. You are paid through the notice period or paid in lieu, on top of redundancy pay.
Tax
Statutory redundancy pay under £30,000 is not taxable. Holiday pay, unpaid wages, bonuses and notice pay in the same final payment are taxed as normal and do not use up the £30,000 tax-free amount.
Common mistakes
Counting part years. Only full years of continuous service count. 9 years and 11 months is 9 years.
Using contractual salary instead of average pay. The weekly figure is the average you earned per week over the 12 weeks before the day you got your redundancy notice, which can differ from your contracted weekly rate.
Assuming the £30,000 covers everything. It is a tax-free threshold for the redundancy element, not a cap on what your employer can pay. A contractual scheme can pay more, and the "tax-free remaining" figure above shows how much room is left before tax applies.
How this calculator works: it caps your service at 20 years and your weekly pay at £751, then works backwards from your current age through each full year of service, giving 1.5, 1 or 0.5 weeks depending on your age in that year. Rules were checked against GOV.UK on 30 October 2026, and every source is listed on our methodology page.