Employment Protection (Consolidation) Act 1978

90 The relevant date. E+W+S

(1) Subject to the following provisions of this section, for the purposes of the provisions of this Act so far as they relate to redundancy payments, “the relevant date”, in relation to the dismissal of an employee—

(a) where his contract of employment is terminated by notice, whether given by his employer or by the employee, means the date on which that notice expires;

(b) where his contract of employment is terminated without notice, means the date on which the termination takes effect;

(c) where he is employed under a contract for a fixed term and that term expires as mentioned in subsection (2)(b) of section 83, means the date on which that term expires;

(d) where he is treated, by virtue of subsection (6) of section 84, as having been dismissed on the termination of his employment under a previous contract, means—

(i) for the purposes of section 101, the date which is the relevant date as defined by paragraph (a), (b) or (c) in relation to the renewed, or new, contract, or, where there has been more than one trial period under section 84, the last such contract; and

(ii) for the purposes of any other provision, the date which is the relevant date as defined by paragraph (a), (b) or (c) in relation to the previous contract, or, where there has been more than one trial period under section 84, the original contract; and

(e) where he is taken to be dismissed by virtue of section 85(2), means the date on which the employee’s notice to terminate his contract of employment expires.

(2) “The relevant date”, in relation to a notice of intention to claim or a right to a redundancy payment in pursuance of such a notice,—

(a) in a case falling within paragraph (a) of subsection (1) of section 8, means the date on which the last of the four or more consecutive weeks before the service of the notice came to an end, and

(b) in a case falling within paragraph (b) of that subsection means the date on which the last of the series of six or more weeks before the service of the notice came to an end.

(3) Where the notice required to be given by an employer to terminate a contract of employment by section 49(1) would, if duly given when notice of termination was given by the employer, or (where no notice was given) when the contract of employment was terminated by the employer, expire on a date later than the relevant date as defined by subsection (1), then for the purposes of section 81(4) and paragraph 1 of Schedule 4 and paragraph 8(4) of Schedule 14, that later date shall be treated as the relevant date in relation to the dismissal.