She does have a contract, even if it's not a paper one
Can they cut her wages? Yes, they can. They must follow correct procedure with correct notice given etc
Your wife knows about this so there must have been some memo/letter sent out? Is there no consultation about to take place? If the employer isn't going through this then your wife should ask why and insist on this
I know when we went through this at work I did some reading and the (minimum) notice period was 28 days. We had both a cut in wages and hours. We must give 1 months notice to leave
48 pph is a huge amount though. Does this keep your wife above minimum wage by cutting 48 pph from her wages? It's £6.08 ph at the moment increasing in Oct 2012 to £6.19
http://www.acas.org.u...x.aspx?articleid=1461
http://www.worksmart.org.uk/rights/