Confused about redundancy notice periods

[ShadowFire]

My workplace is having redundancies (due to reduced workload) and it's looking likely that I'll be affected.

I was looking for information about my rights on the gov.uk website. That says that employees with between 2 and 12 years service get statutory notice of 1 week per year of service. I have 8 full years service.

We had another redundancy round about 6 months ago. Some of the people who went then had similar lengths of service to me, but everyone got 4 weeks notice.

My manager said this is because our contracts say 4 weeks notice - but surely if a statutory minimum notice period is more than in the contract, then they have to give the statutory minimum or they're breaking employment laws?

My manager says that I'm reading it wrong and there's a loophole that lets them stick with what's in the employment contract re. notice periods but I'm really not convinced.

Your manager is wrong, contracts can't overwrite statutory minimums

Perhaps he can explain the loop hole to you?!

Your manager is wrong but I wonder if the people made "redundant" actually left under settlement agreements rather than statutory redundancy - they still can't leave you short in terms of payments though.

Give ACAS a call if you can't get a straight answer.

They can give you payment in lieu of notice, so it is ok to give you 4 weeks notice as long as your final pay includes another 4 weeks pay in lieu of notice. But as others have said, there is no loophole. A contract can require the employer to give longer notice than the statutory minimum but they cannot give less.

Is a settlement agreement the same as payment in lieu of notice?

It's sounding like my manager has got muddled somewhere along the line.

I've dug out my copy of my employment contract now. I probably should have done that before posting earlier but my manager had me feeling slightly panicked

My contract says I get 1 months notice until I have 4 years continuous employment, then for 4 - 11 years service, I get 1 weeks notice for each completed year. Which, conveniently, once an employee has hit 4 years service, ties in exactly with the minimum statutory redundancy notice.

So manager is completely wrong about notice periods. It's a standard company contract too, so there's a good chance his contract has the same wording around notice periods in it.

That's good news!