Tootling along.

[Vanilla]

Practicalities Toots:

You need to know the effective date of redundancy for H. It makes a great deal of difference. The rules on pensions change 5 April 2015 in the UK.

If he is on (say) 3 months notice then this will be after 5 April then he can have his redundancy over £30k paid to his pension and immediately remove 25% tax free to maximise his position. And then move his pension pot, even into the EU to a more friendly regime where he can draw more under the rules of the receiving country. He would also get a tax allowance in that country. There are a number of ways of managing this.

If it is before 5 April this does not work so well and you are on more solid ground.

So I would probably gently add some questions of H?

H you told me this redundancy was on the cards, it sounds like there are a number of people leaving the firm. I know you will be concerned for your work colleagues, are you all leaving together? Have they told you when that will be? I am happy to help you with your CV if you would like that. One of my particularly (nerdy) strengths is paperwork so if you would like assistance then I would be comfortable at anything you email to me.

That was basically the stance I took with my H, and it worked as we reviewed his stuff. You MUST be capable of being impartial and ask H to refer to a fin adviser if you have a conflict. I probably would not suggest this to many but I am convinced Toots is more than capable. We can always chip in.

This will tell you if this is a scheme of redundancy, what the legal compliance will be. If there is commutation to pension scheme etc. Intel Toots, Intel.

It is worth you examining. My spider sense is bristling.

V