Public sector redundancy pay



Public sector redundancy pay arrangements are the subject of planned government changes that will make all public sector workers who are facing redundancy worse off.


The existing arrangements are the result of established sector-specific collective bargaining across the public sector. The government plans to make changes which, if permitted, will undo hard won arrangements and will cut the redundancy pay of thousands of workers, including nurses, teachers, firefighters, police officers and paramedics.


There are three main planks to the changes, which affect not only redundancy pay but also a wide range of other “exit payments”:


• capping “exit” payments;


• “clawing back” exit payments from people who return to work in the public sector; and



• altering the calculation formula, to cut payments to redundant workers under the various negotiated schemes across the public sector.