Am I still entitled to redundancy pay?

devastar

Hello,

I'm looking for some advice on my current employment situation. I was made redundant in April from the company I had worked for for over 4 years in Belfast. They gave me 1 months notice and offered a redundancy payment of £1400. They also offered me 2 days a week in their Dublin office (as i'm from Dublin and could stay with family) which was meant to last until the end of june and said i would get the redundancy payment when i finished working then.

Since the end of june they've kept me on for 2 days a week on a month to month basis, but i have no written contract or security with them. I am still based in Belfast, which they know, and the travelling has become very frustrating and financially it is barely above what i'd get on the dole or working in the local shop, yet with a lot of stress and pressure. When it was only going to be for a few months as was agreed in april, the situation was okay but in the last few months there have been some personal issues with the company and situations which have made me want to leave as well as the constant travelling is affecting my health (I have ME).

If I decide to leave, am i still entitled to the redundancy payment? I recieved my P45 in april from the northern branch as the northern and southern branches are 2 different companies and have been getting paid in euro's from the dublin office since may. I have no contract or written agreement with the company past june. I'm planning on starting a business course in january so the payment would mean I could spend some time getting better before it started. Any advice would be really appreciated.

growler

what have you got in writing from the NI company, any notice of redundancy etc?

devastar

Unfortunately I don't have the letter in front of me at the moment to quote it exactly. It basically said that I will be made redundant from the 30th of April, I am entitled to a redundancy payment of £1400 and if i was interested that they were offering me 2 days a week work in the dublin office until the end of June after whcih they didn't see there being any further work for me with the company. I was given my p45 at the end of june and had to set up my own tax etc.. for the dublin office who have paid me since in euro's.

The others in the office who were made redundant were given 3 months notice to work full time in the belfast office, then received their payment. I had a verbal agreement with the director that i would receive mine at the end of june when i stopped working and i would get it in sterling, not euro. However, i have since been asked at the start of each month to work between 8 and 10 days and currently will be employed till decemeber at least. I have no idea if there is any more work after this, but I can't do it any longer.

johnciall

by the sound of it you should have got your redundancy payment at the same time as you finished working for the company in belfast, it may be worth getting in touch with the director you were dealing with

Thoie

To answer your main question - you got your P45, therefore you are not employed by the company any more, they should have given you the redundancy payment at roughly the same time as the P45.
This link is Irish specific, but I'm sure there'll be something similar in the UK (though I know that UK statutory redundancy is a lot lower than here). Oh, here we go (clicky). That's applies to contractual redundancy as well, which is what you have. Make a few photocopies of the letter that says you'll get £1400 and hang on to them.

Get that sorted first (write the letter now before reading any further!)


Then...
I'd be of the opinion that you're now a consultant for them as you're dealing with your own tax affairs etc. Make sure that you bill them (in Sterling!) for all the hours you do in Dublin.

Once you've got all your payments up to date (in case they try to screw you), as a consultant you are perfectly entitled to increase your rates by writing to them in advance something like "from 12th November please note that my new hourly fee will be GBP£1gazillion and that travel time will be charged at two thirds of the hourly rate". If they don't like your new rates, they will let you know fast enough, and probably take on someone else instead (if that's what you want).

If you do want to keep some hours with them, sit down and do some sums. For simplicity say you're currently getting £10 an hour - £160 a week (for a two day week). If we take travel time from Dub to Belfast as being 2 hours each way, and you're travelling each night, then that's a 12 hour day you're putting in. Let's say you feel the extra travel loses you another hour of your time each day. So that's 13 hours you're "spending" on them. So now you want to charge £130 for an 8 hour day - your new hourly rate is £16 (+ VAT if you're VAT registered). In Ireland, as self employed you'd be paying something like 6% PRSI as well. It starts getting very circular, but fling that in on top and make it £17 an hour if you want.

I'm not sure what the situation in the UK is, but in Ireland as a self-employed person you're not entitled to any welfare benefit. If you were a PAYE employee for only 2 days a week you'd be entitled to 4 other days benefit as well. As this is your only contract, that's worth taking into account. If we say the UK benefit is £60 a week, then you're "missing out" on another £40 a week for the days you're not working, so you might want to add that in too. So our £40 divided by 16 working hours = £2.50. Bringing your hourly rate to near as dammit to £20 an hour. Add in petrol/train costs... you can make the numbers anything you want, tempering them against how much you want the work. If you want to keep the job, and are currently charging £10 an hour, then a jump to £20 odd probably won't go in your favour. If you'd much rather just stop working now altogether, then set a reasonable price that adequately compensates you for your time if they decide to keep you on anyway.