Furloughing Employees
Pooled advice from Gov.uk, professional advisers
& news sources
Sources:
1) Gov.uk Covid 19 Business Support
- page link here
2) News, other professional advisors, Enterprise Nation, FSB and Banks.
- where they offer further clarification
- these are in blue
80% cent of gross wages up to £2,500 a month, for those employees that would otherwise have been laid off during this crisis.
All employers and all employees eligible.
Called: Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme
EmployER pays employEE.
EmployER paid by HMRC (not till end of April)
Backdated to 1st March
Employees who have already been laid off due to the coronavirus, will be covered, if brought back into the company and instead granted a leave of absence.
How to access the scheme...
You will need to:
1) designate affected employees as ‘furloughed workers,’ and notify your employees of this change
Employment law note: discuss the option with employees, seek to gain their acceptance, understanding the alternative option may be redundancy.
2) submit information to HMRC online
Employees on Zero Hour Contracts
- Employers can use pay for February.
- If not paid in Feb, employees can claim universal credit.
Employees who have to stay at home to look after young children
- employers can furlough these employees.
- Treasury has advised this is preferable to redundancy.
The other 20%
- Employers are not required to pay the 20% employees salaries, that is not covered by this Gov scheme payment.
- Employers can pay the 20% not covered, if they wish.
Over the £2,500 gross salary limit
- Employers can pay over the £2,500 gross salary limit, if they wish.
Training whilst furlourghed
This is okay.
Furloughing employees more than once
As long as the furlough period is a minimum of 3 weeks each time.
More questions answered:
Kim Sartin, employment lawyer and partner at Baker McKenzie, has answered 100+ questions on furloughing via a LinkedIn post, thread here.
Stephenson Law has key updates here
Gov.uk Coronavirus Business Support page
