To take voluntary redundancy @ £115k

[anon5mill]

Around £80k after tax. Or should I stay in current role with package of £140-150k + pension, healthcare. Current role is comfortable and suits lifestyle. Could be difficult to find another role with the same flexibility and money. Have niggling doubt about taking the redundancy. Have dependents, already own home, no debts. Likely to be made redundant within next 18 months if not now.

It is definitely taxed.

A lot depends on your age and how long you want or need to keep working, whether there’s anything you’ve always wanted to do - sabbatical?

Personally I would take it as that kind of lump sum would be life changing for me, even if I found a new job at a slightly lower salary with that kind of lump some.of money. You would have the opportunity to build back up to that level of salary again but I suppose it depends what you do and the job market.

When do you need to decide by?

Have you applied for any other jobs?

I would be really tempted, I'd be worried I wouldn't get such a good deal in 18 months, or that for some reason I'd leave and wouldn't get it at all.

We sound like we are at diff life stages though, that money would be really useful for me right now.

If you think you’re going to be made redundant in 18months time, I’d take the money now. Who knows what terms will be on offer then and this is a great deal.

How old are you, OP? If not worried about walking into another job, I’d take it

DH took redundancy in2015, 50k, first 30 tax free. Got a better job within 6 months best thing he ever did. Go for it xx

If you take it now, you're risking being 140k out of pocket (if there is a risk you dont find a job for a year)

I would wait

The first £30k of statutory redundancy isn't taxed, any statutory redundancy after that (and all discretionary redundancy) is.

That said, unless you'd have something time sensitive like a house purchase that needs proof of ongoing income, or retirement, I'd take it now. While the job market is pretty tough at this moment, it will come up, and in my experience of being on both ends of these processes, often the second (or third or fourth) round is much less generous, and in the meantime you are likely to have had a grim 18 months where morale is low and you're doing the jobs of more people, now others are gone.

As others have said, a six figure redundancy is for most people a life changing lump sum that can let you sort issues, or at minimum take a much needed rest and reset.

@F0RBIDDEN Amen to that, I earned £11k a year and just got made redundant as the company was in financial hardship, I got paid until the end of the week (got made redundant on the Tuesday).

I'd take any redundancy pay (that I could survive on) in a heartbeat.

I am mid 40s with primary aged kids so the expensive stage is still ahead of me. I'd initially thought it could give me a chance to have a few years at home with them at this age but that could set retirement back a lot.

Thanks, whilst not life changing it is a lot to turn down. I am very risk adverse so unlikely to anything major with it.

How mean @Timetochangegonzo

Thanks, I need to decide in the next week. I haven't applied for any other roles yet.

For many people on here it actually would be life changing.
I'm not familiar with such high salaries so had no idea about 30k tax thing.

Thanks. The chance to have a break is very tempting, although I have got to the stage in this role where I am no longer stressed or working long hours.

You also need to consider the knock on tax implications, as it may take you into the higher earner tax bracket (the next level about 40%) where you lose tax allowance above £125k (iirc), no savings allowance, likely to move into self assessment terrority so the overall may not work as much as 80k.
Check out the higher earner tax calcs, redundancy above 30k does count as earnings.

Thanks. Yes I have already taken all of that into account but I will recheck.

Redundancy is taxed. Sometimes if you can get it shortly after the start of the tax year, you will be in a lower band than if you had already received 11 months salary.

You can also contribute to a pension and reduce your taxable earnings. If you are an older person this can be more attractive.

The Company might make you a different offer later. Or if they want go get rid of you they might turn nasty.

You don't know for sure how long you will be out of work, or what your future earnings will be, so don't blow it. You may lose benefits like health insurance or life insurance, maybe a car.

Amusingly(?) I was once working for a company that was going down the tubes and they offered me a retention bonus to stay. Then collapsed anyway and I got redundancy. The few people kept on were a bit peeved.

I would hang on.

You will get a package in 18 months and will have time to upskill, get organised.

If you could walk into some convenient quickly, or even contracting, wfh, would it suit you to do that if you think the offer in 18 months would be basic.

I guess it's all relative.

If you can take a lump sum, put it away and live with the other household income then I'd say do it if you think it gives you some time at home and you want that.

Otherwise I'd wait the 18 months but during that time be looking at other jobs, looking at what salary I need if I could drop and maybe work part time?

Would the wind down work be interesting to you?

I’d hang on , it would have to be more than a years salary for me

Wrong - over £30k it's taxed.

When I took mine it was mainly due to the rumours at the time that redundancy packages were likely to change in the future. At that time I was being offered 3.5 weeks per year and I had about 15 years service.

I knew I wouldn’t get through another 15 years without redundancy threat and I would have been gutted if it dropped to 1 week per year which was the rumour

I was lucky to get a new, higher paid job very quickly so my redundancy package went straight into savings

OP if I were you the main factor for me would be is your package in 18 months going to be significantly different as that would make or break it for me