turned down for redundancy- can i appeal?

[bedraggledmumoftwo]

Civil servant, just got news today that my voluntary redundancy application has been turned down. My boss was out today so haven't had the formal letter yet, but verbal notification.
Feeling absolutely shocked and gutted. It was specifically targeted at my grade in particular, my boss gave me a near perfect score on the criteria, and said my job could be downgraded if I left, and I have only been there 6 years, so my payout would be on the small side compared to longer services. Obviously I shouldn't have been counting my chickens, but I really assumed I would get it.

Two under three so would have enabled me to be a sahm for a bit.

Anyway, is there any point appealing? I have realised I overestimated my payout on the calculator form( they didn't have time to wait for the official estimates to be issued) as the second half of my maternity leaves shouldn't have been included in reckonable service. I had already submitted the application before I saw that in the maternity policy but didn't see a need to ask to change my estimate as the actual payout would be calculated by the pensions service separately. As a result I have overestimated my service ( and therefore payout) by about 15%.

Is there any point going back and clarifying this in case it fell above the affordability cut off? Given my line manager said I was expendable, I cant think why else it could have been turned down, unless there were a lot of cheaper applications than mine.

I would definitely try to see if this would make a difference. You have nothing to lose from trying. If everything is not yet finalised some people will not accept the offer and they may offer you the redundancy in the second wave.

Thank you. Yes, that is what I am hoping. There is a month for people to formally accept, AFTER which the actual payout figures will finally be issued by the pensions service, and the department have reserved the right to renege if anyone is more than ten percent out on their calculated estimate so some people who have overestimated (like me) but been approved, may change their minds or others who have underestimated could then be turned down.

Are you sure you were the right grade to apply? It was made clear at our office that only Band Bs would be accepted but some Band Cs applied anyway. This wasn't made clear in some offices and there has been a lot of disappointed people.

Yes,definitely the right grade. It was specifically aimed at reducing the number at my (senior) grade and the one below, but was open to all the other grades below as well. I assumed my payout would be pretty low for someone at my grade, but thinking about it, maybe if lots of people at lower grades also applied then the affordability ranking could have been skewed.

I don't know if you're in the same department as me but everyone who applied got it in our district so maybe this did stop others getting it of higher grades.

You didn't overestimate your reckonable service.
If the maternity policy states that any part of maternity leave, up to 12 months, is not counted as reckonable service it is discriminatory and shocking to find it in the civil service.

mariefab is correct. If your second half of maternity leave falls before the date of (potential) redundancy, then it all counts as time served, regardless of whether you received any pay.

Thanks lougle and Marie. I was surprised, which is why I calculated it wrong in the first place- it is counted in the total service on our HR system, but the maternity policy clearly states:
Periods of paid departmental maternity leave count as reckonable service for accrual of annual leave and civil service pension benefits. Periods of unpaid departmental maternity leave do not count as reckonable service for the purposes of civil service pension benefits, but they do not break otherwise continuous service for those purposes.

Is that discriminatory? We get annual leave for the whole year.

Whoa. Maternity leave (paid or unpaid) counts as continuous service for the purposes of employment rights including redundancy pay, holiday etc. But unpaid maternity leave does not count towards reckonable service for pension scheme entitlements.

The OP's policy is quite clear and perfectly legal.

flowery, and the maternity policy, are correct.

I'm afraid that because you wrote, "the second half of my maternity leaves shouldn't have been included in reckonable service" I assumed that you were talking about your redundancy payment calculation.

I was talking about the redundancy calculation, which is through the civil service pension provider. The second half of each maternity leave was therefore not reckonable.

Calculation of redundancy pay has nothing to do with pension benefits. For the purposes of your pension benefits, reckonable service would not have accrued during the unpaid portion of maternity leave (ie if statutory maternity pay, the last 3 months).

For the purposes of redundancy pay, your whole continuous service is used for the calculation, which includes all of maternity leave.

Your pension won't be taken into account for redundancy calculation though, will it? Are you saying that as part of the deal you have to cash in your pension contributions in some way?

If it is straightforward redundancy (which I, perhaps wrongly, assumed) then reckonable service for the pension isn't relevant.

The civil service compensation scheme is calculated and paid by civil service pensions, so I assumed the pension reckonable service was the same as the vr reckonable service.

Oh well, guess the amount I was calculated might have been right after all then- good news if I had got it as I would have had a bigger payout, but bad news if I cannot appeal on that basis then.

Thanks for the advice

Did you take 18 months maternity leave each time?
If so, that would explain why the second half of your maternity leave periods didn't count as reckonable service for pension purposes.

The policy you've quoted just says that unpaid maternity leave periods aren't counted as reckonable service for pensions.
It says nothing about redundancy payment calculations.

No, twelve months, six paid, six unpaid (smp but logged on hr system as unpaid) for each. I just assumed since the pensions scheme runs it it would be the same. The redundancy guidance does specify to exclude periods of unpaid leave, but doesn't mention maternity specifically.

Update, six weeks later I have been given it after all!

If lougle or mariefab are around, that has got me thinking about my length of service. I am 100% sure that unpaid maternity leave is excluded from reckonable service for both pension and redundancy. Our internal guidance tells you to take service from your pension statement. So I looked at the detailed documents for the civil service compensation scheme online - eg redundancy scheme. It specifically lists periods not included in reckonable service as unpaid maternity leave as well as career breaks etc. I remember you were shocked when I said this the first time, but this is the redundancy scheme for all civil servants- I assume it cant be wrong?

Congrats you got the redundancy you wanted, but I'm shocked that you won't be getting the redundancy payment for your full maternity leave periods. I am not an expert, but suggest you do look into this, as I think it's pretty clear that you are receiving less favourable treatment than someone who started at the same time as you did but did not take maternity leave. BTW, I'm also fairly shocked that the civil service pension scheme does not include the full maternity leave period as pensionable service - the universities superannuation scheme (USS) for all its faults, does at least do this.