Employment Protection (Consolidation) Act 1978

73 Calculation of basic award

(1) The amount of the basic award shall be the amount calculated in accordance with subsections (3) to (6), subject to—

(a) subsection (2) of this section (which provides for an award of two weeks' pay in certain redundancy cases);

(b) subsection (7) (which provides for the amount of the award to be reduced where the employee contributed to the dismissal);

(c) subsection (8) (which provides for a minimum award of two weeks' pay in certain cases);

(d) subsection (9) (which provides for the amount of the award to be reduced where the employee received a payment in respect of redundancy); and

(e) section 76 (which prohibits compensation being awarded under this Part and under the [1975 c. 65.] Sex Discrimination Act 1975 or the [1976 c. 74.] Race Relations Act 1976 in respect of the same matter).

(2) The amount of the basic award shall be two weeks' pay where the tribunal finds that the reason or principal reason for the dismissal of the employee was that he was redundant and the employee—

(a) by virtue of section 82(5) or (6) is not, or if he were otherwise entitled would not be, entitled to a redundancy payment; or

(b) by virtue of the operation of section 84(1) is not treated as dismissed for the purposes of Part VI.

(3) The amount of the basic award shall be calculated by reference to the period, ending with the effective date of termination, during which the employee has been continuously employed, by starting at the end of that period and reckoning backwards the numbers of years of employment falling within that period, and allowing—

(a) one and a half weeks' pay for each such year of employment which consists wholly of weeks in which the employee was not below the age of forty-one;

(b) one week's pay for each such year of employment which consists wholly of weeks in which the employee was below the age of forty-one and was not below the age of twenty-two; and

(c) half a week's pay for each such year of employment which consists wholly of weeks in which the employee was below the age of twenty-two and was not below the age of eighteen.

(4) Where, in reckoning the number of years of employment in accordance with subsection (3), twenty years of employment have been reckoned no account shall be taken of any year of employment earlier than those twenty years.

(5) Where in the case of an employee the effective date of termination is after the specified anniversary the amount of the basic award calculated in accordance with subsections (3) and (4) shall be reduced by the appropriate fraction.

(6) In subsection (5) " the specified anniversary " in relation to a man means the sixty-fourth anniversary of the day of his birth, and in relation to a woman means the fifty-ninth anniversary of the day of her birth, and " the appropriate fraction " means the fraction of which—

(a) the numerator is the number of whole months reckoned from the specified anniversary in the period beginning with that anniversary and ending with the effective date of termination; and

(b) the denominator is twelve.

(7) Where the tribunal finds that the dismissal was to any extent caused or contributed to by any action of the complainant it shall, except in a case where the dismissal was by reason of redundancy, reduce the amount of the basic award by such proportion as it considers just and equitable having regard to that finding.

(8) Where the amount calculated in accordance with subsections (3) to (7) is less than the amount of two weeks' pay, the amount of the basic award shall be two weeks' pay.

(9) The amount of the basic award shall be reduced or, as the case may be, be further reduced, by the amount of any redundancy payment awarded by the tribunal under Part VI in respect of the same dismissal or of any payment made by the employer to the employee on the ground that the dismissal was by reason of redundancy, whether in pursuance of Part VI or otherwise.