Lay-offs and short-time working

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Applying for redundancy

You could apply for redundancy and claim redundancy pay if you’ve been laid off without pay or put on short-time and receive less than half a week’s pay for:

  • 4 or more weeks in a row
  • 6 or more weeks in a 13-week period

  1. Write to your employer to claim redundancy within 4 weeks of the last day of the lay-off or short-time period.

  2. Your employer has 7 days to accept your claim or give you a written counter-notice.

  3. If your employer does not give you counter-notice, you can assume they’ve accepted your redundancy claim.

  4. A counter-notice means your employer expects work will soon be available - it must start within 4 weeks and must last at least 13 weeks.

Your employer can withdraw their counter-notice in writing.

Resigning

You must resign to get redundancy pay. The timing is crucial - you have 3 weeks to hand in your notice, starting from:

  • 7 days after you gave written notice to your employer (if you did not get a counter-notice)
  • the date your employer withdrew their counter-notice

You can get help from Citizens Advice.

View a printable version of the whole guide

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