A man who fell through the roof of a caravan on his first day working for his employer has...
The Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, has announced the furlough scheme will be extended until the end of April 2021. The eligibility criteria for the UK-wide Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) will remain unchanged.
Additional key points on the extended furlough scheme are:
• Pay returns to August payment levels i.e. 80% of salary capped at £2,500 a month
• Employer pays NI and pension – estimated by HMRC to be 5% of salary costs
• Employee to be put on furlough needed to be on payroll as at 23.59 (precisely) on 30th October to qualify
• New employees who qualify via payroll can be put on furlough
• Full or flexi furlough remains possible
• As before claims to HMRC to be made on a consecutive 7 calendar day basis
You may have already arranged for employees to return from furlough anticipating the end of furlough and may now wish to take advantage of the extended scheme especially if that delays redundancy procedures. If you do, review your furlough agreements/arrangements may need updating to reflect flexi furlough or return to full furlough. If you need assistance with this, our employment team are happy to assist.
Keep in mind that furlough is a variation of contract so important to keep records up to date and HMRC expect records to be kept for 5 years.
Furloughed employees remain employed, continue to accrue holiday during furlough, can take sick leave and holiday leave during furlough, cannot work but can do training and voluntary work.
Furloughed employees can do another job i.e. a second job so long as not breaching contract of employment with another employer or existing job they are furloughed from.
The Job support scheme is now postponed pending the end of furlough; and it may be subject to change.
Employers were originally encouraged to keep people in work until the end of January 2021 to receive a Job Retention Bonus (JRB) of £1,000 per head. However, this has now been scrapped as the furlough scheme has been extended.
For assistance with furlough, redundancy procedures or other employment issues, contact our Employment team on 01689 887840.
Although correct at the time of publication, the contents of this article are intended for general information purposes only and shall not be deemed to be, or constitute legal advice. We cannot accept responsibility for any loss as a result of acts or omissions taken in respect of this article. Please contact us for the latest legal position.