Lay-offs and short-term working

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

A lay-off is if you’re off work for at least 1 working day.

Short-time working is when your hours are cut.

There’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 it’s been four weeks in a row or six weeks in a 13-week period.

For 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 you’re unpaid, you’re entitled to guarantee pay.