Lay-off is not a holiday, and it is not automatically redundancy

Updated September 2026

Lay-off means you are sent home because there is no work. Short-time means your hours are cut. Neither is garden leave, and neither is a shutdown you can treat as a holiday. The first question is whether the contract even allows it.

The contract comes first

Without a lay-off or short-time clause, sending you home unpaid is usually a breach. That can be an unlawful deduction, and in a bad enough case a constructive dismissal. With a clause, they can reduce work without ending the job. The clause has to be real, not invented after the order book dips. This is an employee mechanism. Workers who are not employees should look at status and unpaid wages, not guarantee pay.

Guarantee pay

Statutory guarantee pay is the legal minimum for workless days when you are laid off or on short-time. From 6 April 2026 the daily cap is £41, for a maximum of five days in any rolling three months — £205. If you earn less than £41 a day, you get your usual daily rate. Part-time entitlement is proportional. You need a month's continuous service, you must be available for work, and you must not refuse reasonable alternative work. A better contractual scheme still wins. Confirm the current cap on gov.uk; it moves each April.

When it becomes redundancy

If you are paid less than half a week's pay for four or more weeks in a row, or six weeks in a thirteen-week stretch (with no more than three of those weeks consecutive), you can give written notice that you intend to claim redundancy pay. You need two years' service. You must apply within four weeks of the end of that period. The employer can serve a counter-notice if they can offer 13 weeks' consecutive work within four weeks. This is a statutory process, not a vibe. Acas has the steps. Statutory redundancy pay is a different clock from unfair redundancy — see redundancy deadlines.

What to do next

Find the lay-off clause, or the absence of one. Keep every rota and every guarantee-pay slip. If they are using lay-off to avoid a redundancy consultation, that is a consultation problem as well as a pay problem. Do not resign on a deadline without advice. Use the calculator if you think the job has already ended in all but name.