Furloughed Workers

As per previous updates and Government advice, the Government’s Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme has the purpose of providing employers with a subsidy so they can retain workers they would otherwise make redundant because of the effect on their business of Coronavirus and the Coronavirus restrictions.

To recap:

1. As an employer, you can claim a grant of 80% of a workers’ wages up to £2,500 for a furloughed worker.
2. As an employer, you can top up their pay (but you can’t recover more than as set out in 1 above) but you are not obliged to (subject to agreement, as clause 4 below).
3. The employee remains on the payroll and tax and NI are deducted in the usual way.
4. The employer and employee need to agree that the employee will be furloughed.
5. The furloughed employee should not work during the furlough period.
6. As an employer, you need to submit a form to HMRC about the employees that have been furloughed.
7. The Scheme will run for at least 3 months from 1st March 2020 and the Government have said it will be extended if it is still  needed after that period.
8. Once an employer has reached an agreement with an employee that they will be furloughed, it needs to be recorded in writing and a template email is linked HERE. Please note this template is for where the employer is topping up and, if that is not the case, needs to be amended.

As ever, any questions, please get in touch.

We are anticipating that the Government will publish more information about the scheme soon but this information and process will enable you as an employer to put the furlough scheme into effect, if you wish to do so.