Making staff redundant
Lay-offs and short-time working
You can lay off an employee (ask them to stay at home or take unpaid leave) when you temporarily cannot give them paid work - as long as the employment contract allows this.
Short-time working is when an employee works reduced hours or is paid less than half a week鈥檚 pay.
Laying off staff or short-time working can help avoid redundancies - but you have to agree this with staff first.
This could be in:
- their employment contract
- a national agreement for the industry
- a collective agreement between you and a recognised trade union
National and collective agreements can only be enforced if they鈥檙e in the employee鈥檚 employment contract.
You may also be able to lay off an employee or put them on short-time working:
- where you have clear evidence showing it鈥檚 been widely accepted in your organisation over a long period of time
- if you agree with the employee to change their employment contract to allow them to be laid off or put on short-time working (this will not automatically give you the power to do this without their consent in the future)
Statutory guarantee payments
Employees are entitled to these if you do not provide them with a full day鈥檚 work during the time they鈥檇 normally be required to work.
The maximum payment is 拢31 a day for 5 days (拢155) in any 3 months. If employees usually earn less than 拢31 a day, they鈥檒l get their usual daily rate. For part-time workers, the rate is worked out proportionally.
Employees can claim a redundancy payment from you if the lay-off or short-time working runs for:
- 4 or more weeks in a row
- 6 or more weeks in a 13 week period, where no more than 3 are in a row
They must give you written notice in advance that they want to make a claim.
You do not have to pay if they鈥檒l return to normal working hours within 4 weeks.
If you do not give guarantee pay to someone who鈥檚 entitled to it, they could take you to an employment tribunal.
There鈥檚 more advice on .