The first of two elements of compensation payable to an employee successful in an unfair dismissal claim in the employment tribunal (the second element being the compensatory award). The basic award is designed to compensate an employee for loss of job security and is calculated in the same way as the statutory redundancy payment according to a formula based on the employee's age, length of service and weekly pay (subject to a statutory limit).

For more information on how to calculate the basic award, see Practice note, Compensation for unfair dismissal: Basic award and Checklist, Statutory redundancy pay automated calculator.