Company wants me to sign contract for 0 hours

General_Grant

If you refuse to sign and at the moment there are no hours to offer you, then they would have to pay you redundancy based on your full pay (subject to the cap for weekly pay).

pinkladyvenus

I would  look at the C.A.B website and A.C.A.S. ( you can contact them for advice)  to see if this could be construed as constructive dissmisal, I would not sign the new contract. https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/work/leaving-a-job/dismissal/claiming-constructive-dismissal/

 https://archive.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=6537

justwhat

In the good old days the company would give you redundancy if you wanted. Then re-employ you on new contract. That's the fair way of doing it.

Jeremy535897

I don't think they have to pay the other 20%. This is an extract from the guidance to employees:

"To qualify for this scheme, you should not undertake work for them while you are furloughed. This will allow your employer to claim a grant of up to 80% of your wage for all employment costs, up to a cap of £2,500 per month.

You will remain employed while furloughed. Your employer could choose to fund the differences between this payment and your salary, but does not have to."

One of the problems with this relief is that it does not really help in cases where the employer needs employees to do some work, but not full time work. It is designed to cope where the employee has to shut the premises down (pub, restaurant, gym etc) and lays everyone off. It does not cope with hotels that have to stay open for a few guests who insist on turning up. I would have hoped that a good employer would have said employees could choose between being laid off and getting 80%, or continuing to work full time for 100%, but recognising that not everyone would get the choice they wanted. Sadly it does not seem to be the case here. You could ask why no option is given to lay people off, but if they don't want to do it, you have to ask yourself why you work for them, and maybe look at working for someone better like the supermarkets who are currently looking for 40,000 staff.