Why don't I get redundancy compensation?

This week I’ve been approached by 4 employees (of separate employers) and they are all going through a redundancy process. All 4 employees are upset at the prospect that if their redundancy proceeds they will receive no redundancy compensation and only their contractual notice period (which for most of them is 4 weeks). There is no legal entitlement to redundancy compensation - so an employee only gets it if it is written in their employment agreement. One of the employees in particular is very stressed about this and, unfortunately for him (but fortunately for his employer), the employer’s redundancy process is so far robust and it certainly appears at this stage that the redundancy is genuine. My advice to him - and the reason for this blog post - is:

• when you’re negotiating your next employment agreement look closely at its terms (don’t just assume it’s a “take it or leave it” employment offer); and

• you can try and ask for redundancy compensation to be included in the agreement but it is very uncommon now. An alternative is to try and negotiate an increase in the notice period for redundancy. At least then if you’re made redundant you have extra time available to you to find another job. My experience is employers are more willing to negotiate an increase in the notice period than they are to negotiate the inclusion of redundancy compensation.