u/Dry_Potato4525

Using a throwaway.
I'm a Quant in UK that was fired via redundancy - I think it is a sham redundancy to avoid paying out a large bonus at the end of 2026. The details and timeline are as follows-

Role - Quant Mgr for a large ($10B+ valuation) that's based in the US with a small presence in the UK
Comp - £150K+ base. Have received large discretionary bonuses in the past (1-2x base)
Timeline -
April 2021 - Joined the firm in India initially
Up to 2024 - Promoted twice due to excellent performance twice
September 2024 - Moved to UK due to a change in personal circumstances (visa not tied to the employer) - base £140K, bonus of £300K paid out in Feb 2025. Awarded $50K in options up to this point.

August 2025 - Promoted again to the current role, base raised to £155K. Awarded another $100K in options, 25% of which were going to vest in September 2026.
Feb 2026 - Paid a £50K bonus for performance in 2025. Strategy goes back up and live after 1+ year of no activity
March - May 2026 - Strategy makes about $200K net of all costs.
May 2026 - Dismissed with no consultation or warning due to redundancy - told my role was being removed entirely (however there are others with the same title and responsibilities as me in the NY branch). Also told my strategy would be scaled down entirely (which is not true, details below). HR mentioned since I was in the UK for less than 2 years, I'm technically not owed a severance and can be dismissed without notice, but they're being gracious and giving me 2 months pay + £15K severance. I was invited into a call and not given a reason for it by a manager 2 levels above me that has never given me a review nor interacted with me day to day. I was working for the firm till the minute I joined the call - had just pulled an all nighter to deliver a different project that management asked me to work on. The manager had the head of HR and my former manager on the call explaining I was being let go. After this call my access was immediately cut and I lost access to my work email and all contacts. I did not have a chance to let other folks in my team know I was being let go. I worked there for five years and have a lot of personal connections at the firm at this point.
May 2026 - Firm gave me a settlement agreement to sign. Engaged a solicitor who said that the dismissal reason is a genuine redundancy if they have passed on my work to another employee. I gave a counter offer of £300K including vested and unvested options buyouts, unpaid deferred bonus from 2024. It was deferred over 3 years of which the last deferred share was expected to be paid out in 2026. The company has ignored my counter offer and missed the deadline I set to reply to the letter (gave them 3 working days to respond). I have just filed for unfair dismissal at ACAS.
July 2026 - This will be my end of employment at the firm

I feel the dismissal is extremely unfair because I delivered a working strategy, but the firm essentially is taking the route of firing me and just handing the strategy to someone else. There was no indication whatsoever and no consultation that they would do this. There's no commercial reason for redundancy because the strategy I had was making multiples of my cost to the company in less than a month. They have tossed away five years of goodwill in an 18 minute call to tell me my role is redundant.

Details-

1. I created a strategy entirely by myself in 2024 that did really well
2. Firm pivoted away from 2025 and ask for my time on other things so my strat was left off. As a result of good performance on other tasks I was given a bonus again in Feb 2026
3. I was given the freedom to refocus on the strategy in early 2026 and I delivered the strategy and returns.
4. My line manager was also let go (he is based in the US), though he did not contribute to this strategy. We did work together on other things and he gave me positive reviews over the years.
5. I have filed in ACAS and plan to take it to ET, probably as an LIP. My solicitor has said there are grounds for unfair dismissal but the road is long, and its better to try and negotiate an offer that is closer to what they offered. I feel that the precedent was set to award large bonuses for great performance in the past, and I worked nights and weekends away from my family to deliver. I feel that asking for 5-10% of the strat's performance (around $500K) is justified, pro-rated to July.

I have a few questions-

1. Given they're not responding to my counter offer, I have filed with ACAS to pause the counter for submission to the ET.
2. I have some info about the company that the FCA might be very interested in - I was a key person for a very long time and the company seems to not care about this at all so far at least
3. What's the best course of action here?