Mutually Agreed Resignation Scheme (MARS)

[curvature]

This is not about me as I run my own business but my wife has the option of this.

I'm not going to post a lot of information on here but has anyone had any experience and able to offer any advice?

Basic info - Mid 50's, 30 years employment, managerial role for a local authority.

[Joust99]

Is there some sort of severance package? Or is this a disguised 'sacking' for a misconduct event?

[curvature]

Joust99 said:

Is there some sort of severance package? Or is this a disguised 'sacking' for a misconduct event?

It has just been announced and open to all to apply. The idea being to save operational costs but as it is not redundancy the package being offered is lower that one might expect.

[Sheepshanks]

curvature said:

It has just been announced and open to all to apply. The idea being to save operational costs but as it is not redundancy the package being offered is lower that one might expect.

Does it look like there's much interest? I guess they'll offer the minimum they need to.

Wife took vol redundancy from a Civil Service department and so many younger staff applied for 3mths tax free that the Department (across England and Wales) was in danger of being unable to function.

[Cyberprog]

curvature said:

It has just been announced and open to all to apply. The idea being to save operational costs but as it is not redundancy the package being offered is lower that one might expect.

Probably best to just wait for a redundancy package then!

[Jo-say8k]

I'd hold off for proper redundancy, like you say, they're trying to save money by asking people to 'take one for the team' really.
Thirty years would hopefully provide a decent severance package.

[curvature]

Thank you all for your replies.

To respond the MARS was only announced yesterday so no way of knowing the numbers of those that may apply nor how much they want to save.

Who is accepted is very much dependent on whether the existing role could be fulfilled by others / another department.

The severance offer is up to 30 weeks pay so reasonable in my view although an element of this would be taxable.

What makes it appealing is my wife could also take a good pension at the same time.

[shtu]

It's really one where there's a few factors.

- If her contract terms for redundancy are significantly better than this offer, it's not very attractive. Usual approach with these things is to make a voluntary redundancy offer sweet enough to tempt people in.

- It may not be aimed at staff like her, maybe targeting staff that are relatively cheap to get rid of, rather then people with decades of service.

- There's always a risk that contract terms could be changed at a future date to make the actual redundancy terms poorer. It's a fairly low risk in this case.

My guess is that there might be a sweet spot for people with a few years' service, but not enough that it makes staying put a no-brainer. Only real answer is to sit down and calculate it all out, and decide if it's worth it, eg, how much more would staying put be worth and is it worth the hassle.

[Sheepshanks]

curvature said:

The severance offer is up to 30 weeks pay so reasonable in my view although an element of this would be taxable.

What makes it appealing is my wife could also take a good pension at the same time.

Does the organisation have a published MARS policy? Googling it brings up a hit on St Helens and their max is 32 weeks, so if that’s standard then you’re pretty well there.

Is there an opportunity to surrender some of the payment for an enhanced pension? My missus surrendered her whole payment into the Civil Service pension fund but it meant that from 51 she got paid her pension as if she was 60.

Failing that, I think (you’d need to check) you could open a SIPP and get 20% added to it, and get a rebate on the other 20% of any 40% tax paid.