Career break and Redundancy

Can anyone clarify the situation regarding career breaks and redundancy. I know that to qualify for redundancy the employee needs to have worked continuously for the employer for at least 104 weeks (2 years).

Is a career break regarded as a break in continuous service for redundancy payments? The career break did not have any effect on pension rights so I am thinking that the same would apply to the redundancy qualification.

Hi CN

To qualify for a redundancy payment, you must have been employed with your current employer for at least two years. So if you joined before 10 March 2007, you will be entitled to a redundancy payment.

However, unpaid career breaks are not counted as reckonable service. So if you took three months off, your payment would be calculated as follows:

(Weekly salary x 1.75) + weekly salary

Another example:
If you have been employed for three years,but took a year off, you will be entitled to 2 years' continuous service. So you would get 5 weeks' redundancy but not 7 weeks.


Brendan Burgess
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