How the result is calculated
Every statutory severance scheme here is a count of units of pay. Britain and Ireland count in weeks, India, Sri Lanka, France, Germany and the Netherlands in months, Spain and federal Canada in days. The statute gives so many units for each year of service, sometimes more for longer service or for older workers, and caps the pay per unit, the years that count or the payment as a whole.
paymentunit pay × (Σ units a year × years in the band + bonus units)
paymentmax(payment, floor), then min(payment, cap in units, cap in money)
- units a year
- the statute's rate for each band: half a week under 22 in Britain, a quarter of a month for each of the first ten years in France, 15/26 of a month in India
- years counted
- completed years, or completed months as a fraction, or a part year over six months as a whole year, as the statute says
- unit pay
- a year's pay divided by 52, 12 or the statute's number of days, capped at the weekly limit where there is one
How a part year counts changes the answer more than people expect. Britain, Sri Lanka and Australia ignore it, so 9 years and 11 months is 9 years. France, Spain, the Netherlands and Ontario count completed months, and the calculator does the same for Ireland. India and Germany count a part year of more than six months as a whole year, so 10 years and 7 months is paid as 11.
Worked example
| Item | Amount | How it is obtained |
|---|---|---|
| A week's pay | £730.77 | £38,000 ÷ 52, under the £751 cap |
| Years aged 41 to 44 | 4 × 1.5 weeks = 6 weeks | each counted back from the end |
| Years aged 35 to 40 | 6 × 1 week = 6 weeks | the band from 22 to 40 |
| Tax | none | inside the £30,000 tax-free amount |
| Statutory redundancy pay | £8,769.23 | 12 weeks' pay |
| Item | Amount | How it is obtained |
|---|---|---|
| Fifteen days' wages | 15,000 | 26,000 × 15 ÷ 26 |
| Years counted | 11 | the seven months count as a year |
| Ceiling | 20 lakh | not reached |
| Gratuity | 1,65,000 | exempt from income tax up to 20 lakh |
| Item | Amount | How it is obtained |
|---|---|---|
| First ten years | 1,500 × 1/4 × 10 = 3,750 | a quarter of a month a year |
| Years 11 and 12 | 1,500 × 1/3 × 2 = 1,000 | a third of a month a year |
| Nine more months | 1,500 × 1/3 × 9/12 = 375 | counted by complete months |
| Indemnité légale | 5,125 | the figure service-public.fr gives for this case |
Reading the result
The headline is the statutory minimum before any deduction, with the number of units of pay under it and a badge for the tax treatment. The table shows how the years were counted and what each band earned, so you can follow the statute line by line. A second badge appears when a cap or a floor shaped the result: the weekly pay cap, the twenty years Britain counts, Spain's twelve or twenty-four months, India's 20 lakh. When nothing is owed, because your service is too short or the employer is outside the rule, the result says why.
What changes the result
Length of service
Every rule pays more for longer service, but the minimum service before anything is owed varies widely: nothing in the Netherlands and Spain, eight months in France, a year in Australia and federal Canada, two in Britain and Ireland, five in India, Sri Lanka and Ontario. Australia's scale falls from 16 weeks at nine years to 12 at ten, because long service leave takes over.
Your pay and its cap
Britain caps a week's pay at £751 (£783 in Northern Ireland), Ireland at 600, which is why redundancy pay for higher earners is flat. Pay means different things: basic pay and dearness allowance in India, base pay without overtime in Australia, salary with holiday allowance in the Netherlands. Enter the figure the hint below the pay box describes.
Your age
Only Britain counts by age: a year in which you were 41 or over for the whole of it earns a week and a half, against half a week before 22.
The employer and the reason
Australia excludes employers with fewer than 15 employees and Sri Lanka those with fewer than 15 workmen; Ontario's severance applies only to a large employer or a mass closure. Germany's § 1a payment exists only where the employer offers it in an operational dismissal. Spain pays more for an unfair dismissal than an objective one.
What is not included
- Notice. Notice periods and pay in lieu are separate entitlements, owed on top.
- Agreements above the minimum. Collective agreements, contracts, social plans and negotiated settlements often pay far more.
- Tribunal awards. Compensation for an unfair or unlawful dismissal is assessed separately.
- Older Spanish service. Contracts from before 12 February 2012 earn 45 days a year for that earlier period.
Using the result
Treat the figure as the floor in any negotiation: an employer may not pay less, and an offer at the statutory amount is the least it can do. Check the service date and the weekly pay on your redundancy letter against the inputs, since those two drive almost every difference. Where the payment is taxable, as in Canada, the Netherlands and Germany, put the gross figure into a take-home pay calculation for the year before relying on it.