afaik the rules on redundancy allow some/all of your severance payment to be paid tax free. There are different exemptions, and you can claim the one most favourable to your circumstances. They work differently to income tax and if you do have to pay tax on severance, it will be taxed as income on the day its paid. But if you have long service and with your income, there's a possibility you'd have to pay little or no tax. Unemployment benefit may not be payable for up to 8 weeks. But you really need to get your spending in check before you seriously consider redundancy.