voluntary redundancy pay

[JenniferAlisonPhilipaSue]

My org are doing voluntary redundancies before compulsory redundancies and cutting the majority of my department. I don't know if my role is safe but I'm hoping it is and I get my VR application rejected because they need me.
Anyway, I know that might not happen so I was wondering, if I was accepted for VR and got another job to start before my end date, would I lose the VR pay?
Would I need to leave before getting another job in order to get my VR pay?
not sure what my rights are on that.

Think it depends if you work your notice period or get pilon which would bring the end date forward.

we have projects we are contracted to deliver so we'd either need to hand the money back (we're a charity who are losing money so obviously need to keep / make money) or keep me on til the projects end (unless I found something else before then, hence my question)

You are not going to get redundancy pay if you leave before your leaving date. You need to work out with your employer what that date will be and then line up any new employment to start after that date.

Voluntary "redundancy" isn't redundancy. It is a mutually agreed termination. So there is no law to cover it and nobody here can tell you the terms. Your employer and you agree the terms (in reality the employer sets the terms and you agree them or the offer is off). Anything anyone tells you here is "wrong" because they can't possibly know the terms.

You could negotiate as part of your termination agreement, that if you get another job, you can take your agreed package and leave earlier .. equally, they could negotiate a retention element of the package, that you get an additional sum if you stay until an agreed date.

Generally: Agree an end date and stick to it.

Leaving earlier can cause problems because you have broken the VR contract which should cause VR to be cancelled. Also you need to do your notice period because if you leave earlier than the notice period then the rest of the notice period pay is deducted form the tax free allowance (i.e you get taxed on it)

VR is the same as normal Redundancy for tax and benefit purposes, £30k is tax free. Over that is taxed at your nominal rate so leaving earlier in the tax year can be a good thing to avoid paying lots of tax. The .gov redundancy pages are useful. Also check your employers policy pages (and take copies for when you have left). VR probably means you are not eligible for your redundancy insurance (if you have that) but check the terms.