When an employer plans redundancies or a transfer, for example after automating a function or outsourcing it to a technology supplier, it often has to consult elected employee representatives where no union is recognised. Those representatives need time during the working day to meet management, talk to colleagues and train. Employees who serve as trustees of a workplace pension scheme need time too. The law gives both groups a right to paid time off. Absence and rota software rarely knows about either, so the time can end up unpaid, coded as holiday or counted against the employee. This page sets out the rules in Great Britain. It is for employees, representatives and employers.
The short answer: an elected employee representative for collective redundancy or TUPE consultation, and a candidate for that role, is entitled to reasonable paid time off to perform those functions and to train for them (Employment Rights Act 1996, s61 and s62). An employee who is a trustee of a trust based occupational pension scheme is entitled to reasonable paid time off for trustee duties and training (s58 and s59). Both groups are protected from detriment and dismissal for carrying out the role.
Employee representatives in redundancy and TUPE consultation
The right covers an employee who is an employee representative for collective redundancy consultation under the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 or for the purposes of the TUPE Regulations 2006, and an employee who is a candidate in an election for that role. They are entitled to reasonable time off during working hours to perform their functions or to undergo training to perform them (s61). Working hours means any time the contract requires the employee to be at work.
The time off must be paid at the appropriate hourly rate: one week's pay divided by the employee's normal working hours in a week. Where hours vary, the divisor is the average normal weekly hours over the 12 complete weeks before the time off, or a fair figure for a newer employee (s62). A payroll rule that pays representatives only for scheduled shifts, or that treats consultation meetings outside their rota as unpaid, can fall short of this.
Pension scheme trustees
The employer in relation to a trust based occupational pension scheme must permit an employee who is a trustee of the scheme, or a director of a company that is the trustee, to take time off during working hours to perform trustee duties or to undergo relevant training (s58). The amount, occasions and conditions are those that are reasonable in all the circumstances, having regard to the time the duties and training need and to the effect on the business (s58(2)). The time must be paid: as if the employee had worked, where pay does not vary with work done, or by average hourly earnings where it does (s59).
Protection
- Employee representatives and candidates have the right not to suffer a detriment for performing, or proposing to perform, their functions, and no employee may suffer a detriment for taking part in an election of employee representatives (s47). A dismissal for those reasons is automatically unfair (s103).
- Pension trustees have the right not to suffer a detriment for performing, or proposing to perform, their functions as trustee (s46), and a dismissal for that reason is automatically unfair (s102).
An attendance score, productivity metric or redundancy selection matrix that counts representative or trustee time against the employee therefore carries real legal risk. If an algorithm ranks staff for selection by output or hours worked, check that it excludes this time.
Complaints
A representative can complain to an employment tribunal that the employer unreasonably refused time off or failed to pay for it. If the complaint succeeds, the tribunal makes a declaration and orders the employer to pay the amount due (s63). A trustee can complain that the employer failed to permit time off or to pay for it, and the tribunal can award compensation for a refusal (s60). Where the matter arose on or after 1 October 2026, the time limit for these complaints is six months, up from three, under the Employment Rights Act 2025, with early conciliation through Acas first.
Practical steps
- Employers: when you start a consultation, set up a paid absence type for representatives and candidates, and a separate one for pension trustees, both outside holiday, sickness and attendance triggers. Calculate pay at the s62 hourly rate for representatives and under s59 for trustees. Exclude this time from any automated performance or selection scoring.
- Representatives and trustees: record the time you spend and what it was for, and check your payslip. For representatives appointed by a recognised union, see trade union time off; for the consultation duties themselves, see AI and layoffs: consultation and notice rules.
These sections extend to England, Wales and Scotland. This page is general information on the law in Great Britain as at 1 November 2026, not legal advice.
Questions and answers
Do employee representatives get paid time off?
Yes. Elected employee representatives for redundancy or TUPE consultation, and candidates, are entitled to reasonable paid time off (Employment Rights Act 1996, s61 and s62).
How is an employee representative's time off paid?
At the appropriate hourly rate: a week's pay divided by normal weekly working hours, averaged over 12 weeks where hours vary (s62).
Do pension trustees get time off work?
Yes. An employee who is a trustee of a trust based occupational pension scheme is entitled to reasonable paid time off for duties and training (s58 and s59).
Can I be selected for redundancy for being an employee representative?
Dismissal because you performed or proposed to perform the functions of an employee representative or candidate is automatically unfair (s103).
What is the time limit to complain?
Where the matter arose on or after 1 October 2026, six months, with Acas early conciliation first (s60 and s63, as amended).