Please please help - quite an urgent question re redundancy payment

[Stayathomebum]

Right, have just literally been made redundant, as in the last 5 minutes.

Have been offered stat minimum redundancy pay - approx £2k although nothing has been confirmed in writing yet. They are going to give me firm figures on thurs.

A woman doing exactly the same job as me in the same department was made redundant for exactly the same reason (lack of work) as me in June and her redundancy pay was £12k.

Surely I should be offered the same redundancy package because we are being made redundant on the same grounds from the same job??

Help! I need a good argument to fight them on this.

My understanding is that redundancy pay is based on length of service and current pay, not on job title/description or the selection criteria.

So if you have a shorter period of service and/or lower pay than a colleague, you will get less redundancy money.

Equally, I think (though not entirely sure) that the redundancy package doesn't have to be the same when the redundancies are made at different times. So it is entirely possible that your employer had more money available in the earlier redundancy round than they do now. However what I do know is that there is a statutory minimum amount (the calculation being based on length of service and current pay).

I should wait until you've got something in writing first.

Oops, pressed post too soon.

I got made redundant last year and know how shitty it is. I was very very angry at being selected, even though I know they had a reasonable set of selection criteria. I think that being angry is a pretty understandable response though.

Thanks, I am quite angry. The girl who got made redundant in June had been there a year less than me and earned a lot less which is why I am fuming!
It just seems so unfair

Contact the Citizens Advice Bureau and they should be able to tell you if you can do anything. They've help us out and a friend out recently.