It is harder to fire someone in Europe than in the US.
However, in the UK severance pay is tax free but the legal minimum that is required by your employer is quite low, some employment contracts may specify better redundancy terms but employers don't have to be that generous.
Only when made redundant. There's no mandatory payment for dismissal. However, it's common for people to leave "by mutual consent" - the employer pays off the employee to leave quickly, rather than go through the formal procedure of establishing incompetence.
