Redundancy
Laid off or on short time: guarantee pay and claiming redundancy
When the work dries up but the job has not formally ended, the law gives a small daily payment first and, after a few weeks, a way out with redundancy pay.
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A lay-off is a week in which your employer gives you no work and, because your contract ties pay to work provided, no pay; short-time working is a week in which reduced work leaves you with less than half a week’s pay. An employer can only do either if the contract or an agreement allows it. For each full day without work you are entitled to statutory guarantee pay, at most £41 a day from 6 April 2026 (£39 before), for no more than 5 days in any 3 months, so £205, with the same figure in Northern Ireland. After 4 or more consecutive weeks of lay-off or short time, or 6 or more in 13 weeks with no more than 3 in a row, you can write to the employer within 4 weeks to claim a redundancy payment. The employer has 7 days to contest it by showing that at least 13 weeks of normal work will start within 4 weeks. If it does not, you resign with notice within 3 weeks and receive statutory redundancy pay as if dismissed.
Laid off or on short time: can you claim yet?
Notice of intention to claim
You can serve it
| Test met | 6 or more weeks in 13 |
| Write within | 4 weeks of the last week |
| Guarantee pay ceiling per 3 months | £205 |
Guarantee pay is at most £41 a day for workless days, for up to 5 days in any 3 months.
What counts as a week of lay-off or short time
Part XI of the Employment Rights Act 1996 uses two precise tests, applied week by week (section 147):
- Laid off: your pay depends on being given work of the kind you are employed to do, the employer gives none, and you are entitled to no pay for the week.
- Short time: because there is less of that work, your pay for the week is less than half a week’s pay. The half-week test uses a week’s pay calculated on the day before the first of the weeks counted.
A week of reduced hours that still pays half or more of your normal week does not count, however unwelcome. Section 235 makes a week end on a Saturday, unless your pay is calculated weekly by a week ending on another day.
Guarantee pay while there is no work
For each complete day in which you would normally work but the employer gives you none, you can claim a guarantee payment (section 31). The daily maximum and the cap on days are:
| Workless day on or after | Daily maximum | Days in any 3 months | Most in 3 months |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6 April 2026 | £41 | 5 | £205 |
| 6 April 2025 | £39 | 5 | £195 |
The number of days is capped at the days you normally work in a week, up to 5; someone on a three-day week can claim three days in a quarter. GOV.UK sets the conditions (Lay-offs and short-time working): 1 month of continuous employment, being available for work, not refusing reasonable alternative work even outside your usual duties, and the lay-off not being caused by industrial action. No guarantee pay is due for a day on which you do some work. An employer’s own scheme can replace the statutory one but cannot pay less, and unpaid guarantee pay can be claimed at a tribunal as an unlawful deduction.
Claiming redundancy pay: the two triggers
Section 148 lets you claim once you have been laid off or kept on short time either:
- for 4 or more consecutive weeks, or
- for a series of 6 or more weeks within 13 weeks, of which no more than 3 were consecutive.
In both cases the last week of the run or series must have ended no more than 4 weeks before you serve a written “notice of intention to claim”. Weeks of lay-off and weeks of short time can be mixed. The usual conditions still apply: you must be an employee with two years’ continuous service.
A timetable, step by step
A machinist aged 46 with 11 years’ service, normally on £640 a week, is laid off without pay from 6 September 2026.
| Step | Rule | Date |
|---|---|---|
| 4th consecutive week of lay-off ends | Section 148(2)(a) | 3 October 2026 |
| Latest day to serve notice of intention to claim | Within 4 weeks of that week | 31 October 2026 |
| Notice of intention served | In writing | 9 October 2026 |
| Employer’s counter-notice deadline | 7 days (section 149) | 16 October 2026 |
| Last day to resign with notice, if no counter-notice | 3 weeks after those 7 days (section 150) | 6 November 2026 |
The relevant date for this claim is set by section 153: the end of the last of the weeks relied on, here 3 October 2026. That date fixes the age, the years and the weekly cap, which is £751 for a 2026/27 date. The machinist’s 13.5 weeks at £640 come to £8,640. There is no statutory notice extension of the kind that applies to a dismissal.
The employer’s defence
A counter-notice served within 7 days stops the payment unless an employment tribunal decides otherwise. The employer wins under section 152 only if, on the day your notice was served, it was reasonable to expect that within 4 weeks you would start at least 13 weeks of work with no lay-off or short time. The defence collapses if you are in fact laid off or on short time in each of the next 4 weeks. The employer may also withdraw a counter-notice in writing; your 3-week resignation window then starts from the withdrawal.
Lay-off or dismissal?
If the employer ends your contract instead, the ordinary rules apply: notice, the relevant date of section 145 and, with two years’ service, redundancy pay on dismissal. GOV.UK’s employer guide treats lay-offs and short time as tools to avoid redundancies (Making staff redundant), which is why they come with this exit route attached.