Given notice of redundancy before 2 years employment, end date is after 2 years of employment - entitled to statutory redundancy pay?

Question

I work for a small company and due to lack of business they are changing their business model; as part of this my role is now being made redundant.

I was given my notice (a duration of 1 month) before 2 years of continuous employment.

On my confirmed last day of employment, I will have been working at the company for 2 years and 14 days.

My employer states I am not entitled to statutory redundancy pay because I have worked with the company for less than 2 years.

So my question is - Is the relevant date calculated from when you were given notice, or your effective end date that decides if you are eligible for statutory redundancy?

Food for thought...

• If it turns out I am eligible for statutory redundancy, could the employer enforce gardening leave before the 2 years deadline to cancel my eligibility? (curious!)
• Halfway through my employment, I relocated abroad and now work remotely. Would this have any impact on my eligibility?

Answer 1

Not a lawyer, but the UK Employment Rights Act of 1996, Part XI, Chapter IV, Section 155 says

An employee does not have any right to a redundancy payment unless he has been continuously employed for a period of not less than two years ending with the relevant date. https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1996/18/part/XI/chapter/IV

The key phrase there is "ending with the relevant date" which is defined in the UK Employment Rights Act of 1996, Part XI, Chapter IV, Section 145(2)(a) as follows:

in relation to an employee whose contract of employment is terminated by notice, whether given by his employer or by the employee, means the date on which the notice expires,

Emphasis mine

So your answer is Yes.