John GreenAnge Postecoglou left Tottenham Hotspur in June 2026 with around £5 million in his pocket. He had won the Europa League just 12 months earlier. He had two years left on his contract. And he was still sacked.
For most professionals, the lesson is uncomfortable: even strong performance does not guarantee job security. What you do with a large redundancy payout in the weeks that follow is what matters. Get it right, and a shock exit becomes a financial springboard. Get it wrong, and HMRC takes a significant share before you have had time to think.
Postecoglou is now the early favourite for the Scotland manager job — William Hill has him at 5/2 following Steve Clarke's resignation after Scotland's 2026 World Cup group-stage exit. But whether or not he returns to national team management, his immediate financial challenge is the same one faced by senior executives, NHS consultants, and City professionals across the UK every year.
What the Law Says About Your Payout
Under HMRC's official guidance on redundancy entitlements, the first £30,000 of a genuine redundancy or termination payment is exempt from income tax. Anything above that threshold is taxable at your marginal rate. For additional-rate taxpayers — those earning above £125,140 — the applicable rate is 45%.
This means on a £5 million payout, around £4.97 million is potentially subject to income tax. That is a potential bill of roughly £2.2 million before any mitigation strategies are applied.
There is one critical distinction. Pay in lieu of notice (PILON) has been treated as regular earnings since 2018 — subject to full income tax and National Insurance from the first pound. If a proportion of Postecoglou's payment reflects his notice period, that element sits entirely outside the £30,000 exemption.
The Employment Rights Act 2025, in force from April 2026, raised the weekly pay cap for statutory redundancy calculations to £751. The maximum statutory redundancy payment is now £22,530. For executives on negotiated contractual exits, this statutory floor is often academic — but understanding where your payment sits within the legal framework is essential before making any decisions.
Five Wealth Management Moves to Make in the First 90 Days
1. Put as Much as Possible Into Your Pension
The pension annual allowance for 2026/27 is £60,000. You can also carry forward unused allowances from the previous three tax years — potentially allowing contributions of up to £200,000 or more in a single year. At 45% additional-rate tax relief, every £100 contributed to a pension costs just £55 net. No other tax-relief vehicle available to UK individuals comes close.
Timing matters. Pension contributions must be made within the same tax year as the income they offset. Waiting until after April 5th means losing a full year of allowance.
2. Stop Keeping Large Sums in Current Accounts
The Personal Savings Allowance for additional-rate taxpayers is zero. Interest earned on cash — even in a notice savings account — is fully taxable as income. A £5 million balance at a 4% rate generates £200,000 in interest per year. At 45%, that is a £90,000 tax bill from doing nothing at all with your money.
A wealth manager can help structure liquid holdings across more tax-efficient vehicles while maintaining access to funds for day-to-day needs.
3. Use Your ISA Allowance — and Your Partner's
The annual ISA allowance remains at £20,000 per person for 2026/27. A couple can collectively shelter £40,000 per year from capital gains tax and income tax indefinitely. Stocks and Shares ISAs allow that sum to compound entirely tax-free over time. It is a small fraction of a large windfall, but it compounds meaningfully over a decade and should be maximised in the first available tax year.
4. Review Capital Gains Tax Exposure Across All Assets
A redundancy rarely arrives in isolation. If you also hold share options, a second property, or an investment portfolio, the tax year of your exit can be the worst possible moment to crystallise additional gains. The annual CGT exempt amount has fallen sharply in recent years. Expert advice on the timing of disposals, spousal transfers, and loss-harvesting can save tens of thousands of pounds from a single tax year.
5. Model Three Scenarios Before Spending Anything
The least obvious move is also the most important: do not commit to any major financial decisions until you have modelled what your income could look like under three different scenarios over the next five years. A return to a well-paid equivalent role. A step-down position such as Postecoglou's potential Scotland appointment. An extended period with no employment income.
Each scenario changes your drawdown rate, your pension strategy, and your overall tax position significantly. Committing to spending plans before completing this modelling locks you into assumptions that may quickly prove wrong.
The Post-Redundancy Income Transition
If Postecoglou does take the Scotland job, he faces a specific variant of the post-redundancy challenge. A national team manager's salary — estimated at around £1 million per year — would represent a significant reduction from his Tottenham earnings. The financial planning challenge shifts from managing a windfall to bridging the gap between a large lump sum and a structurally lower income stream.
This transition is common among senior professionals who move from peak-earning corporate roles into portfolio careers, consultancy, public-sector work, or advisory positions. Managing it well requires a forward-looking income model — one that accounts for state pension entitlement, private pension drawdown timing, and the tax implications of income in different bands across each year of the transition.
The pattern of high-profile sackings generating large compensation payments, followed by lower-paid roles, is well-established in football and in the wider executive world. As explored in this earlier analysis of severance and financial planning, the instinct to treat the payout as a salary replacement often leads to structural problems within three to five years: Liam Rosenior Sacked After 106 Days: 5 Wealth Moves to Make After Redundancy.
When to Call a Wealth Manager
HMRC does not offer a second chance on the tax treatment of termination payments. Decisions about PILON structure, pension contributions, ISA timing, and investment allocation all need to be made quickly — and correctly — in the days and weeks after a large payout lands.
For anyone navigating this situation, whether the payout is £50,000 or £5 million, speaking with a qualified UK wealth manager before taking any financial action is the single highest-return move available. The amount at stake is not the issue. The window for acting is.
