Benefits package - included for redundancy?

I am due to be made redundant in the next few weeks. Today I received my redundancy payment calculations and am unsure about one thing. On top of the statutory redundancy I am getting paid 6 weeks for every year I was there. The calculations I've been given are based on my standard salary. We also received a cash amount each month listed as 'benefits allowance'. This was an amount made up of things like gym subsidy, mortgage subsidy etc which were all amalgamated into this one benefits allowance a couple of years ago.

Would it be normal for this to be excluded in the calculation of the redundancy or should it be included?

Will be meeting with E&Y to go through the calcs next week but just wanted to have the info before I go to meet them.

Thanks!

It is normal that ex-gratia redundancy would only include base salary only unless you have a contractual allowance. It is unlikely that you have a contractual agreement on the benefits allowance. You can however use the benefits and salary payments together to help you with tax calculations.

That's great, thanks for the info.
What do you mean about the salary plus benefits package being used for tax calcs?

There are various methodologies that can be used for calculating the taxation on an ex-gratia redundancy. The one that applies provides the best relief for you should be applied. In the SCSB calculation, the tax relief relief generally benefits those with high earnings and long service. It is a relief given for each year of service equal to 1/15th of the average annual pay for the last 3 years of service (36 months) to date of leaving less any tax-free lump sum entitlement from the pension scheme. Please refer to: http://www.revenue.ie/en/tax/it/leaflets/it21.html