Employers' body the Confederation of British Industry will today unveil plans to revolutionise employment rights by introducing an �alternative to redundancy� (ATR) scheme to get workers to stay at home in return for £128 a week.

Employers' body the Confederation of British Industry will today unveil plans to revolutionise employment rights by introducing an "alternative to redundancy" (ATR) scheme to get workers to stay at home in return for £128 a week.

The body has already briefed the government on the proposed scheme which would allow employers to place employees on an ATR register for up to six months.

During this period workers' contracts would be effectively frozen and they would receive the equivalent of job seekers' allowance, currently £64.30 a week for the over-25s, from the government, topped up by the same amount from the employer.

But the affected employees would not be eligible for other support, such as Housing Benefit and Council Tax bene- fit, typically received by the formally unemployed.

Crucially, during this period the employer could decide to make the workers redundant with just four weeks' notice no matter their contractual notice period.

There would also be an incentive for a worker to seek other work if they are only receiving the equivalent of a £6687 annual salary, thus freeing the employer from making redundancy payments.

CBI deputy director-general John Cridland said the measures were intended to soften the impending rise in joblessness and allow com-panies to retain skilled staff so they could participate in the later economic upturn.

"It is a scheme designed for people who frankly have reached the end of the road unless things improve very rapidly.

"It should avoid short periods of unemployment. The worst thing I think is when a business needs to let somebody go because they have run out of cash and then recruits them again three months later."

He added: "It is not revoking (workers') employment rights. They will get their redundancy if that is the stage things reach. It is suspending the employment contract."

The CBI envisages that employees will be offered ATR as an alternative to standard redundancy proceedings.

The plan would require legal changes because it involves the suspension of employment contracts and the CBI believes it would need to be implemented by the autumn to have an impact before unemployment is expected to peak in the second quarter of next year.

But unions are sceptical. Trades Union Congress general secretary Brendan Barber said: "There will be worries about whether employees who took up this option could end up losing redundancy rights and the big cut in income they will face, without any cushioning redundancy pay for the first six months.

"It is also better to keep people in work and training with their employer even if on short-term working, rather than sitting at home, which is why unions and other employer groups are campaigning for the kind of wage subsidies that are now common in the rest of Europe."

The CBI says the UK Government cannot afford wage subsidies and they are hard to direct at viable companies.

On top of the ATR plan, the group also wants the consultation period for orthodox redundancy proceedings cut from the current 90 days for those employers with more than 100 staff.

But Barber said "The 90-day period provides the opportunity to explore alternatives to redundancy and can both help keep workers in jobs and make businesses better prepared for an upturn."

The CBI made a further call for a pull-back in employment regulations which it claimed had cost businesses an additional £73bn since 1998.

Among the measures it highlighted for potential cost-cutting were maternity leave regulations, the right to request flexible working and the national minimum wage.

Barber said: "People are losing their jobs not because they have gained some modest rights in recent years, but because we are going through a deep recession caused by a breakdown in the financial system caused by out-of- control banks."

The CBI was unable to confirm what impact its plans might have on unemployment levels.

Cridland said: "We do not make claims that this would have a huge impact on unemployment numbers but I think it could be key to particular groups of workers in particular businesses."