Taxation of termination payments

My friend Ioana calls for our Thursday night Zoom catch-up. She works in marketing in London and we swapped our weekly meetings at our favourite burger restaurant for Zoom sessions what feels like a lifetime ago. We used to make burgers at home to recreate the good old days with considerable success but now we just settle for a packet of crisps and a glass of wine as we talk the evening away.

I’ve been looking forward to tonight all week. Wind-down time arrives – Ioana appears on my screen and she is super excited – she cannot sit still and seems to be bursting to tell me something.

‘I am being made redundant. I am going to get a huge pay-out. I can take some time out. I can go on that holiday I’ve wanted to take. I might even take a year out. For...