Am I entitled to pay for days when I am laid off?

This depends on your contract of employment, which may incorporate a term of a collective agreement. If there is no provision for lay off without pay in the contract your employer is obliged to continue paying your wages.

Some contracts state that pay will be suspended if there is no work. In such cases you are entitled to guarantee pay based on your normal pay, but subject to an upper limit of £18.90 per day (£19.60 from February 2007) for up to 5 days of lay-off in any period of 13 weeks.

This entitlement exists for all employees, (including part-time employees, whose entitlement is calculated on a pro-rata basis), who have at least one month’s service. An exception to this is employees on a fixed term contract of three months or less.

See the DTI website for more information on guarantee payments.