Guarantee pay

Statutory guarantee pay (section 28 ERA 96) is capped at £24.20 per day as at 2013/14 and is payable for a maximum of five days in any three-month period. The maximum amount payable in any three-month period is £121.00 from 1 February 2013 for a maximum of five workless days.

A “day” is a 24-hour period from midnight to midnight and has to be a “workless day”, that is when employees would normally work but have been required not to work. It does not cover days when employees are off work for sickness or holidays, even if there would have been no work for them to do on that day.

No statutory guarantee pay is due if:

• an employee has less than a month’s service;

• the lack of work is due to a strike, lockout or any other form of industrial action;

• alternative work is unreasonably refused; or

• there is non-compliance with “reasonable requirements” to be available for work.

Only employees qualify for statutory guarantee pay.