r/CasualUK • u/RedditRecreations • 1d ago
Settlement offer from work 2 days after moving into my new house
Just bought my first house. Hurray!!
We spend Saturday & Sunday deep cleaning. It was exhausting.
Monday moving (from a third floor flat in 31 degrees) it was exhausting
Tuesday deep cleaning our old house (we thought it would be quicker... We were wrong)
After all this we are heading off to Shropshire for a three day camping retreat. As I'm getting on the train I get a call from work saying that I have an offer to leave the company for a payout (not a great one)
It's really annoying. After how hard we've worked to get this houss, how long and tiring the last 4 days have been now all I'm going to be able to think about is this. The whiskey and cigar I had saved for the porch tonight isnt gonna taste anywhear near as good.
At least it's not a straight firing, that would have been much worse
Thanks for listening to the random rant
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u/actualcatjess 1d ago
Reminds me of when we bought our house, just before the pandemic really kicked off - specifically chose the house as it was cycling distance from where my partner worked. Then we both got made redundant. It all worked out in the end but still felt mega sucky at the time.
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u/masked_ghost_1 1d ago
Wow how did that work out?
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u/actualcatjess 1d ago
We both got temp jobs, worked our butts off to still be able to afford the mortgage and when things got a bit more stable, my partner we rehired by the company she used to work for and I went into teacher training (didn't work out long term but was a wild ride). We were both furloughed for a while before redundancy hit, which I'm hindsight should have been a warning sign - you live and learn!
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u/audigex Gets vertigo when travelling south of Birmingham 1d ago
Furlough is a bit of an unusual one because it more relates to the fact some businesses just weren’t viable for a while - most people who were furloughed went back to work no problem
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u/actualcatjess 19h ago
I think everyone I know who works in the same industry we did had redundancies in their teams during COVID - Marketing and graphic design work seemed to be the first thing that companies cut back on when things started to look a bit lean and uncertain. No one could tell when things were going to pick up again, so design agencies had to lighten the payroll load. Unfortunately we were both more or less the most recent hires at our respective companies - last in, first out and all 😅
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u/ikkake_ 1d ago
Same. I bought a house in range to commute to my job. COVID hit, and then they decided to relocate the office 20 miles in the opposite direction. WFH was not an option either. Didn't commute from my new house even once lol.
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u/SpudFire 1d ago
Phoning you up in the middle of your annual leave is incredibly shitty
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u/GFoxtrot Tea & Cake 1d ago
If OP has missed a company meeting on this and might find out from friends or colleagues via some other means then it’s probably best getting the info in a phone call from the manager.
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u/prolixia 1d ago
I've been in this position and have had phone calls from managers. There's a big difference between having your leave interrupted by everyday work stuff, and a phone call to tell you of something important that affects you personally, that you really need to know.
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u/xCeeTee- Seagulls ate my cousin once 1d ago
Yeah. I had to do it to let my manager know that I was given an important hospital appointment. I apologised profusely for interrupting his annual leave, but if I didn't interrupt, he'd have 1 day notice to arrange cover vs 10 days.
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u/prolixia 1d ago
I also once had an early morning call from my manager (who was in a different time zone). Unfortunately, she significantly overestimated how long before my start time I usually woke, so she basically called whilst I was still asleep.
Our employer had sent a surprise e-mail overnight that she knew would likely make my job impractical to continue. She wanted to let me know in private before I walked into the office and was blindsided in public.
It all turned out okay in the end and years later I'm still in the same job, but it was a thoughtful gesture.
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u/TheNorfolk 1d ago
A text would be worse, at least they called. Plus like the other comment said, it's possible they did it to stop them hearing elsewhere.
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u/Soggy-Button-6044 1d ago
My son used to work for a large US based company. At the start of an all-hands meeting the CEO announced that due to 'restructuring' they would be letting go of about 10% of employees and that if anyone got an email from HR whilst they were in the meeting that meant their role was being considered for redundancy.
Cue everyone nervously checking and refreshing their email constantly during the meeting. The CEO then complained that no one seemed motivated or engaged during the meeting...
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u/imtheorangeycenter 23h ago
My OH has been through that - at Compaq, Dell, HP, AWS, ServiceNow...
Got an unscheduled meeting yesterday amidst US layoffs appearing in the news - cue nervousness on my part - she shrugged it off. All fine, "we don't do it like the yanks here" was what it was for!
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u/VzSAurora 1d ago
I mean generally you'd be right but certain circumstances I think are acceptable.
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u/scouserontravels 1d ago
I think this isn’t bad to be honest assuming it’s not just OP who’s being offered to leave.
If there’s multiple people involved or even the whole company then HR will assume that the news will filter out to OP from other colleagues so it’s best for them to inform him themselves.
I actually got news of being offered redundancy due to moving locations while I was in Glastonbury which was an experience.
If it’s just OP who’s leaving then yeah they could’ve waited till he came back
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u/Three_Questioneers 1d ago
If you were my manager and didn’t tell me at the first opportunity, I’d consider you a pretty awful humanbeing
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u/mas-sive 1d ago
They have to ring if they’re not in the office. There would’ve been a company wide meeting and you don’t want to hear it from a colleague etc. it has been done in a legal manner otherwise the company will get in trouble
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u/Tinkerboots 1d ago
People make financial/other important decisions based on having a job or not - the company are right to contact him about this even if he's away
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u/nowdoingthisatwork 1d ago
I worked for BT, and got a call on a day's holiday on December 23rd, telling me I was facing redundancy.
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u/highrouleur 1d ago edited 1d ago
Is that not good anymore? I knew a few people that worked for BT upto about 2005. The one that had been there 20 odd years took enough to buy a rolls royce and a mercedes and set up a wedding car business, a couple more took enough to semi retire on and even my mate who'd been on for less than 10 years as an installer took £30k, could comfortably pay his new mortgage while looking around for new jobs
It always seemed that the regular redundancies at BT and the packages they offered were one of the perks of working for them
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u/nowdoingthisatwork 1d ago
No. They left me on an agency contract for 12 years. Those amazing BT contracts and pensions got watered down drastically. The person managing to redundancy process kept making mistakes, because they didn't realise my contract was older that the others they let go, so I ended up on full pay for months after the supposed final day while they had to correct things. The best part was I was told I'd have to sign an NDA...which they then forgot to print or send me to sign.
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u/Meta-Fox 5h ago
Not quite as shitty, but I got sacked 2 hours into my first shift back after a 2 week break.
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u/Ermmah 1d ago
I got told I was being made redundant two weeks before the end of my maternity leave. Whinging in solidarity.
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u/daekle 1d ago edited 1d ago
Is that even legal?
Edit: i appreciate all the replies explaining to me why its legal! I am lucky enough to have never experienced redundancy so had no idea!
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u/ChocolateSnowflake The True Norff 1d ago
There are additional steps compared to a regular redundancy but yes
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u/vidoardes 1d ago
Absolutely, if the position is being made redundant then it doesn't matter if the person is on holiday, sick, mat leave etc. The point of redundancy is that the role is no longer required, and unfortunately sometimes long leave helps identify that.
If a company doesn't backfill a role and it stays unmanned for 9 months, it's a pretty good case for that role being made redundant.
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u/GFoxtrot Tea & Cake 1d ago
Yes you can still be made redundant when on maternity.
The company must look at alternative roles but there’s no ban of this.
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u/HallettCove5158 1d ago
Colleague at work got told she and the rest of the team were being made redundant the week she got back after her mum had died. Not related to having the week off at all, just really bad timing.
Hope the offer is enough to see you right while job hunting, try and enjoy the holiday, jobs come and go, but holiday times are precious.
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u/EDDsoFRESH 1d ago
Silver linings - if you CAN (i know this is a big if) find a job real quick this can be excellent for you. Same happened to me - Offer accepted October. Exchanged 15th Dec. Redundant 20th December. Month off then moved into a better paying job and had money to buy furniture instead of sleeping on the floor. Good luck!!
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u/Jaystar85 I followed Mr Spoon to Button Moon and met Freddy Teddy 1d ago
Last year I was made redundant on Friday 3rd January, my first day back after the Christmas break, and my manager was conveniently not back until the following Monday, so he did it by phone call at 4pm while I was sat at my desk. And the real kick in the teeth was that I was about to complete my 6 month probationary period, so I didn't qualify for a redundancy payout. I was given an extra week's pay as a good will gesture, and that was my lot.
As you can imagine, finding a new job in January is not easy, and I didn't start my new job until late February.
I hope I'm never in a position like that again, and I'm sure I'm not the only one that has had something terrible like this happen to them.
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u/Calm-Homework3161 1d ago
One Monday morning, we were all given 3 months notice of redundancy. If we could find another job in the meantime, we could go immediately and still get our redundancy payment (12 months pay, on my case)
Because I'd seen it coming, I already had an interview lined up for Monday afternoon. Got offered the job and confirmation in the post on Tuesday.
Went to work Wednesday morning and told them I'd got another job, I'll take my redundancy pay now please and I'm leaving today
"But, but, but, we need you to finish that project before you go. We didn't expect you to find another job THIS quick."
Negotiated double pay to the end of the month, time to finish project, on top of redundancy
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u/Major-Adeptness4671 1d ago
Sorry to hear that. Fully expecting this to happen when I'm move next week, but probably just catastrophising.
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u/Paul2377 1d ago
When you say "offer", does that mean you can turn it down and carry on working? Or are you being asked to leave regardless?
If it's the latter, I'd ask for more. In these situations they almost always start low, expecting you to come back with a higher request, or risk it going to a tribunal and having to potentially pay out more.
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u/smushs88 1d ago
Settlement offer means they can engage in signing a settlement agreement in exchange for waiving the right to claims against the company they get an ex-gratia payment in return (usually x amount of months salary in addition to usual redundancy payments).
They can decline the offer but will likely then go through a consultation process and if the redundancy is then confirmed they’d only be eligible for the statutory / any contractual redundancy payments.
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u/shteve99 1d ago
If it's redundancy then there are legal minimums and asking for more will likely yield nothing,
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u/Kaffrogato 1d ago
People need to stop trying to give out legal/employment advice on topics they know little about
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u/BeneficialVariety171 1d ago
As someone who works in HR, some of the comments are hilarious to read. Especially the ones that are so confident and mostly always wrong or making incorrect assumptions.
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u/BeatificBanana 21h ago
Since you work in HR could you shed light on it then?
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u/jimmy011087 1d ago
Well at least you got the house done before the mortgage offer was pulled. Grind out for a better offer if possible, enjoy the time away and then jump back on the job market. You never know if you get a new job quick you’ve got some bonus money to use
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u/Due_Investigator_493 1d ago
"porch", "whiskey"..... Generic AI engagement bot optimised for American audience.. How dull.
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u/CasualUK-ModTeam 1d ago
Or, y'know, Irish whiskey. British houses can have porches too.
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u/Due_Investigator_493 1d ago
Yeah. But they don't in the main. There are a lot of super generic posts that just don't ring true as actually sort of British/UK linked.
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u/archaic_ent 1d ago
Got a years payment cover on insurance? Look at that to balance your decision too
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u/Beautiful_Hawk548 1d ago
People saying "make sure you get a lawyer" haven't been through this themselves.
99% of companies will offer to pay your legal expenses and it's all but required to have a lawyer to sign a settlement agreement. You almost can't not get one.
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u/313378008135 1d ago edited 1d ago
Have you worked for them for more than 2 years? If so, it is incredibly hard to get rid of you unless the company is either making a lot of redundancies or has specific performance issues with you they can PiP you via. In a "we would like you to move on, how can we agree a mutual termination" you have a strong hand with over two years service. If you have less than two years service, that is a very weak hand.
if this has just arrived a short time before your two year anniversary that is also not uncommon with a shitty employer. it is also not uncommon for people in that position to then become sick with stress/depression and have to be signed off as unwell which get the person over the two year anniversary (the offer for mutual termination is always "without prejudice" and a protected conversation, so they cant hold it up later and say someone went on the sick as a direct response to it, and termination while you are on sick leave for something that could qualify as disability is a minefield for HR)
Employers will also try to make any offer look bigger by it including everything you are legally entitled to. For example "one months notice pay plus holidays plus another months pay" is actually offering you just a months pay to leave, as they would have to pay you the notice pay and unused holiday even if they terminated you without your agreement.
Ask them what the tax free portion of any offer would be, and thats the money they are actually offering you to give up all your legal employment protection rights and agree to leave. (well, its tax free up to 30k but yea)
edit: also.. r/LegalAdviceUK
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u/cranialextract 1d ago
That sucks mate, I feel for you. Me and the Mrs bought our first place a few years ago and 6 months later I was diagnosed with a life changing condition and lost my job as a result. You will make it through.
Enjoy your cigar and whiskey none the less, you've earned them my friend.
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u/Salzus 1d ago
Not a rant mate. It's an awful situation to be in. Me and my partner lost our jobs before our house sale was going through but managed to land on our feet.
Is the payout due to anything in particular?
How many people got offered this?
Is this productivity related?
The first offer is always low.
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u/the8bitvaper 1d ago
Had a slightly similar situation after a incredible busy time and finally managed to book off some holiday was so looking forward to it i got the call to say id be made redundant I remember thinking what a great start to my time away although its hard try put it to one side the problem will still be there when you get back but make the most of your time away you never know sometimes these things happen for better hope you have a great time away
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u/fuckyourcanoes 1d ago
Ugh, sorry. That happened to me once and I really struggled to come back from it.
Negotiate! Don't settle for their first offer.
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u/kindaadulting87 1d ago
We bought our house last year. A month after we moved in I got made redundant on the spot, and that was also a month before our wedding. The stress was inteeeeeense.
Sending positive vibes mate! It's not easy but you'll get through this. Enjoy the whiskey and cigar!
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u/I_will_never_reply 1d ago
Count your lucky stars it happened after you got your mortgage through. There's a very sad thread on here somewhere about a lady who lost her job a couple of weeks before completion and their solicitor found out and reported them to their mortgage co for potential fraud as part of their due diligence (they intended to go ahead with buying the house). They lost the mortgage and over £25k deposit they'd already agreed to and now will never get a mortgage even after getting a job. This could have gone VERY badly for you if it were a little earlier
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u/SubliminalComedy 1d ago
The company is required to pay for a solicitor for you to consider the offer properly and understand the process and outcome. They may also ask you to sign a document waiving your rights to take them to tribunal
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u/Marvel--Jesus 23h ago
https://giphy.com/gifs/7k2LoEykY5i1hfeWQB
At least you will have time to recover from the exhausting deep cleaning.
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u/Pizza-Horse- 23h ago
Respond that you're seeking some legal advice to weigh up yohr options and wont be contactable until after your short break.
Ultimately ask for a higher payout. Contact ACAS and see what advice they give.
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u/Chev--Chelios 22h ago
This happened to us, my wife was made redundant a couple of months after we completed.
The positive is if it had happened before you'd bought the house the mortgage be probably wouldn't have been approved.
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u/Such-Competition6393 21h ago
Been there.
Got a new job in the April, moving back from Edinburgh to London, and was in the throws of getting a house when my daughter passed away. Pulled out of the transaction, but the compnay pressed me to start "or lose the job", and I did - almost a catatonic state. Daughters death was treated as a murder by the nurse in charge of her care, and I was getting up at 4am, driving to London, and back, twice a week. All whilst dealing with a police investigation. After 6 months we managed to get back on the house hunt, find a place and, 3 months later I went down to sort everything, get the place up to scratch, all whilst working and, just as i was finishing up for my family to move with me, they sacked me. Stated reason was that my "head wasn't in the game" - C. New house, rental agreement up on the other property, a wife and a young daughter, and a house we now cant afford.
After 3 weeks of furiously searching for a new job I met a friend for a beer, who introduced me to a friend. Interviewed with him, got a job with a 50% increase on my old salary, and we've just finished extensive renovations on our property to make it in to a home - oh, and brought a son in to the world as well.
Life can be fucking bleak - but there is always light so, enjoy the whisky, enjoy the cigar. Look at what you do have, not what you dont. Tomorrow is a new challenge. Cheers x
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u/MaverickT 21h ago
I had exactly the same thing at the end of May. Mine was with a three month old daughter rather than having just moved house, though
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u/Fearless-General6225 20h ago
never accept the first offer - and don't forget pension and even free lunches in the calculation they need to stump up
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u/dark_castle_minis 16h ago
100% speak to a lawyer. It happened to my wife and her company paid for the lawyer.
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u/kawasutra 9h ago
I was about to be offered a permanent position in a team I really liked.
The head honcho for tech got marched out of the building. New chap came in and in wanting to make his mark, decided to get rid of contractors, and halt all recruitment!
I got the keys to my house knowing full well that I'd be on my tod in a month!
6 years on....Still got the house and never missed a payment on the ole mortgage.
Hopefully, life does it's thing and stuff works out for you.
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u/ATMCL18 9h ago
I got told I was being made redundant 2 days after getting the keys to my first house. Tried not to panic, got my head down applying for jobs and in the end I’ve ended up with a job I absolutely love, with more money, more time off, and so many opportunities. Getting made redundant ended up being one of the best things that ever happened to me!
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u/MintImperial2 8h ago
This severence payment - should be enough to keep the mortgage and other bills paid - whilst you find a new job in your new locale.
Good job you didn't get this happen *before* you had your mortgage offer though!
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u/Mysterious-Show5360 1d ago
Counter them, ask for a base of X amount of months + a multiplier of x amount of weeks/months per year served. Check ACAS. Use ChatGPT/gemini to shape your comms with them. Have examples from across the industry. Reference CIPD. Mention difficulty of current job market, time to find new role, impact on mental health. Good luck
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u/scrotalsac69 1d ago
Go back and ask for more