Redundancy
Time off to look for work during redundancy notice
Once you have been given notice of redundancy you can leave work for interviews and training, but the law only guarantees a small part of that time as paid.
Checked by Radif Partners · Editorial policy · Method and sources
An employee under notice of dismissal for redundancy is entitled to reasonable time off during working hours to look for a new job or to arrange training for one, under section 52 of the Employment Rights Act 1996. The condition is two years of continuous employment, measured on the day the notice ends or, if later, the day statutory minimum notice would have ended. How much time is reasonable depends on the circumstances, such as how hard work will be to find and how long the notice is. The pay is limited: under section 53, the employer owes the hourly rate for the hours taken, but never more than 40 % of one week’s pay across the whole notice period. GOV.UK’s example is someone on a five-day week who takes four days off during their notice: the employer has to pay for only the first two. That 40 % is worked out on your real weekly pay, without the £751 cap used for redundancy pay, and a contract can pay more.
Days off to job-hunt: how many are paid?
Statutory pay for the time off
£200.00
| Days the law pays for | 2.0 |
| Ceiling for the whole notice | £200.00 |
| Unpaid by law | £200.00 |
Only for employees with two years’ service by the end of notice. A contract can pay more.
Who qualifies
The right in section 52 belongs to employees who have been given notice of dismissal because of redundancy. It does not cover workers who are not employees, people resigning for other reasons, or anyone whose contract ended with immediate effect. The service condition looks forward: you must have, or would have, two years of continuous employment on the later of two days, the day your notice is due to expire and the day statutory minimum notice would expire.
Example: someone who started on 16 November 2024 is told on 5 October 2026 that their job is going, with notice to 30 November 2026. On the day they are told they have under two years; statutory notice would be 1 week, ending on 12 October 2026. They complete two years on 15 November 2026, before the contractual notice ends, so they qualify for paid time off from the first day of notice.
How much time is reasonable
The Act gives no number of hours. Acas lists what weighs in the balance: how difficult it will be for you to find work, and the length of your notice period (Acas, Finding a job with a new employer). A specialist in a shrinking trade may reasonably need more time than someone whose skills are in demand. The request should be made during the notice period, and the employer can say no only on reasonable grounds. The time is taken during your working hours, which section 52(3) defines as any time your contract requires you to be at work.
How the pay is worked out
Section 53 pays the time off at the “appropriate hourly rate”: one week’s pay divided by your normal weekly hours under the contract in force on the day notice was given. If your hours vary, the divisor is the average of normal hours over the twelve weeks ending with the last complete week before that day. Then comes the limit: whatever time you take, the employer’s liability for the whole notice is at most 40 % of a week’s pay.
| Case | Week’s pay | Hourly rate | Most the law pays (40 %) | Equivalent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GOV.UK: 5-day week, 4 days off | Any | Any | 40 % of a week | 2 of 4 days paid |
| Acas: Robyn, 5 days off in 12 weeks | £500 | £200 | 2 of 5 days paid | |
| Part-timer, 22.5 hours over 3 days | £420 | £18.67 | £168.00 | 9.0 hours |
| Senior manager, 5-day week | £1,300 | £520 | 2 days |
The last line matters. The £751 limit on a week’s pay in section 227 applies to redundancy payments and certain tribunal awards; time off under section 53 is not on its list. The 40 % is therefore taken from your actual week’s pay: £520 for the manager on £1,300, not £300.40.
Hours, not just days
The limit is a sum of money, so it can be used in hours. The part-timer in the table earns £18.67 an hour and reaches the £168.00 ceiling after 9 hours: three interviews of three hours each, including travel, would use it up. A fourth would be unpaid unless the contract or the employer’s policy pays more. Keeping a note of the dates and hours taken makes any dispute easy to settle, because the payment is owed for the notice period as a whole rather than week by week.
Contract pay and statutory pay do not stack
If your contract keeps paying full salary for the hours you are away, that contractual pay counts towards the statutory amount, and vice versa (section 53(6) and (7)). Most salaried employees therefore see no deduction at all for a few interviews. The statutory rule matters when the employer docks pay for absence, or for hourly-paid staff.
If the employer says no
An unreasonable refusal does not leave you empty-handed. Section 53(4) gives you the amount you would have been paid had the time off been allowed, within the same 40 % ceiling, and an employment tribunal can order it. Keep the request and the refusal in writing.
Help that is free during notice
GOV.UK points employees under notice to the Jobcentre Plus Rapid Response Service in England, which helps with CVs, job search, training and some costs such as travel or childcare; it can be contacted during notice and up to 13 weeks after the job ends. Help with the cost of vocational training is only considered while you are still in your notice period, which is a reason to contact the service early rather than after your last day. Scotland has its own service, Partnership Action for Continuing Employment, and Wales has ReAct+. Meanwhile your notice itself is worth checking: the notice period calculator gives the statutory minimum from your start date.