Lay-offs and short-time working

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1. Overview

Your employer can ask you to stay at home or take unpaid leave if there바카라 사이트™s not enough work for you.

A lay-off is if you바카라 사이트™re off work for at least 1 working day. Short-time working is when your hours are cut.

How long you can be laid off

There바카라 사이트™s no limit for how long you can be laid off or put on short-time. You could apply for redundancy and claim redundancy pay if it바카라 사이트™s been:

  • 4 weeks in a row
  • 6 weeks in a 13-week period

Lay-off pay entitlement and short-time working payments

You should get your full pay unless your contract allows unpaid or reduced pay lay-offs.

If you바카라 사이트™re unpaid, you바카라 사이트™re entitled to guarantee pay.

2. Guarantee pay

Rate and length of statutory lay-off pay

You바카라 사이트™re entitled to guarantee pay during lay off or short-time working. The maximum you can get is £38 a day for 5 days in any 3-month period - so a maximum of £190.

If you usually earn less than £38 a day, you바카라 사이트™ll get your normal daily rate.

If you work part-time, your entitlement is worked out proportionally.

You cannot claim guarantee pay for any day that you do some work.

Eligibility for statutory lay-off pay

You must:

  • have been employed continuously for 1 month (includes part-time workers)
  • reasonably make sure you바카라 사이트™re available for work
  • not refuse any reasonable alternative work (including work not in your contract)
  • not have been laid off because of industrial action

Statutory lay-off pay and your employment contract

Your employer may have their own guarantee pay scheme. It cannot be less than the statutory arrangements. If you get your employer바카라 사이트™s payments, you do not get statutory lay-off pay on top of this.

Not paying guarantee pay counts as an unlawful deduction from your wages - you could make a claim to an employment tribunal.

3. Applying for redundancy

You could apply for redundancy and claim redundancy pay if you바카라 사이트™ve been laid off without pay or put on short-time and receive less than half a week바카라 사이트™s pay for:

  • 4 or more weeks in a row
  • 6 or more weeks in a 13-week period
  1. Write to your employer to claim redundancy within 4 weeks of the last day of the lay-off or short-time period.

  2. Your employer has 7 days to accept your claim or give you a written counter-notice.

  3. If your employer does not give you counter-notice, you can assume they바카라 사이트™ve accepted your redundancy claim.

  4. A counter-notice means your employer expects work will soon be available - it must start within 4 weeks and must last at least 13 weeks.

Your employer can withdraw their counter-notice in writing.

Resigning

You must resign to get redundancy pay. The timing is crucial - you have 3 weeks to hand in your notice, starting from:

  • 7 days after you gave written notice to your employer (if you did not get a counter-notice)
  • the date your employer withdrew their counter-notice

You can get help from

4. Extra work or claiming benefits

You can take on another job while you바카라 사이트™re laid off or on short-time (unless your contract says you must not).

You should:

  • get your employer바카라 사이트™s agreement
  • make sure you바카라 사이트™re not working for a competitor
  • make sure you바카라 사이트™re available for your original job once the lay-off or short-time ends

Benefits you can claim

You might be able to get Universal Credit or New Style Jobseeker바카라 사이트™s Allowance (or both) while you바카라 사이트™re laid off or on short-time.