Redundancy Pay —
and When Your Employer Goes Bust

Age, years and a week's pay

• Half a week's pay for each full year you worked when you were 21 or under.
• 1 week's pay for each full year you worked aged 22 to 40.
• 1.5 weeks' pay for each full year you worked aged 41 or over.
• Only the last 20 years count. Only full years count.
• Your employer must tell you in writing how your redundancy pay was worked out.

England, Wales and Scotland

If your employer is formally insolvent (an insolvency practitioner or the official receiver is dealing with it), the government's Redundancy Payments Service can pay:

• redundancy pay
• up to 8 weeks of unpaid wages (and other money in your contract, such as bonuses, overtime and commission)
• up to 6 weeks of holiday pay, for holiday in the 12 months before the insolvency
• statutory notice pay: 1 week per year employed, up to 12 weeks — benefits you got, or could have got, are deducted

Each week is capped at £751 (from 6 April 2026).

Own service, own cap

• Claims go to the Northern Ireland Redundancy Payments Service (Department for the Economy), paid from the National Insurance Fund.
• It can pay redundancy pay, up to 8 weeks of wages, holiday pay (owed for the 12 months before the insolvency, up to 6 weeks) and compensatory notice pay (up to 12 weeks; new earnings are taken into account).
• Apply online for redundancy pay within 6 months of being made redundant. Weekly cap £783.
• You can also claim all your unpaid pay from the insolvency practitioner, but full payment is not guaranteed.