Redundancy pay and age discrimination 



It is not age discrimination to provide an enhanced redundancy payment scheme, as long as it mirrors the statutory scheme for redundancy pay. 



A redundancy scheme will not be age discriminatory if it amends the statutory scheme in any of the following ways:


• by exceeding (or removing altogether) the statutory cap on a week’s pay;



• by multiplying the amount for each age band; or



• by multiplying the total amount by a figure of more than one.



(Paragraph 13, Schedule 9, EA 10)



An employer is free to devise its own redundancy scheme that is not based on the statutory scheme, but the employer must be able to justify it objectively as a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim if the scheme is challenged as age discriminatory. 



A policy that pays the same to everyone, for example, a scheme paying a month’s pay per year of service to every employee regardless of age, will not need justification, as there will be no age discrimination.