Is My Redundancy Pay Offer Fair? How to Check in 5 Minutes

The question most people ask too late

Most employees accept their redundancy offer without checking whether it is correct. Some feel it would be impolite to question it. Some assume their employer has done the maths properly. Some just want the process to be over.

The reality is that underpayment is common, and employers do not always do the calculation correctly — sometimes through error, sometimes because they are applying an outdated cap figure, and occasionally because they are hoping the employee will not push back.

Checking takes about five minutes. Here is how to do it.

Step 1: Find your three key numbers

You need:

1. Your last day of employment (the dismissal date — this determines which weekly pay cap applies)
2. Your date of birth
3. Your employment start date
4. Your gross annual salary (or average weekly pay if your earnings vary)

Step 2: Apply the current cap

The weekly pay used in the calculation is capped at £751 from 6 April 2026 (previously £719). This cap is set by the government and reviewed each April.

Your weekly pay for calculation purposes is your annual salary divided by 52 — but no more than £751. If you earn £40,000, your weekly pay for this calculation is £769.23, but only £751 counts. If you earn £30,000, your weekly pay is £576.92 — the cap does not apply.

See our guide on what counts towards your redundancy pay calculation for the full rules on variable pay, overtime, and bonuses.

Step 3: Apply the age band multipliers

The statutory formula works backwards from your dismissal date, year by year, applying a multiplier based on your age in each year of service:

• Under 22: 0.5 weeks per year
• 22–40: 1.0 week per year
• 41 and over: 1.5 weeks per year

Service is capped at 20 complete years. Partial years are discarded.

A quick worked example

Employee aged 38, earning £35,000 a year, with 7 years of service.

• Weekly pay: £35,000 ÷ 52 = £673.08 (below the cap, so no adjustment)
• All 7 years worked between age 22 and 40: 7 × 1.0 = 7 weeks
• Statutory entitlement: 7 × £673.08 = £4,711.56

If the employer has offered £3,500, there is a shortfall of over £1,200. That is not a rounding error — it is an underpayment.

What if there are age band crossovers?

This is where most manual calculations go wrong. If your service spans multiple age bands, the calculation works backwards through each year individually. Our calculator handles this automatically — it applies the exact rules from the Employment Rights Act 1996.

What to do if the offer is too low

If your calculation shows a figure above what you have been offered, you have two options:

Write a formal letter. Reference the Employment Rights Act 1996, state your correct entitlement, and request the shortfall within a reasonable period (14 days is standard). A professional letter — citing the correct legislation and figures — is often enough to prompt a correction.

Contact ACAS. If the employer does not respond or disputes your calculation, ACAS Early Conciliation is the first step before any tribunal claim. It is free and often resolves matters without needing to escalate further.

You have six months less one day from your last day of employment to bring a redundancy pay claim. Do not let that deadline pass unnoticed.

What if the offer is more than the statutory minimum?

If your employer has offered more than the statutory amount — well done for checking anyway. You can still use our calculator to understand exactly what you are legally entitled to, and to see whether the enhanced figure might be negotiable further.

See our guide on whether you can negotiate a redundancy package for how to approach that conversation.