There has been a further update to the furloughing scheme. The government will continue to pay up to 80% of the salary of ‘furloughed workers, for hours not worked until the end of April, with a cap of £2,500 a month. This is to continue financial support for businesses and workers.
The furlough scheme subsidises the wages of people who can’t do their jobs, either because their workplace is closed, or because there is no longer enough work for them.
The scheme is back to how it was at the beginning. The government will cover the full 80% (up to £2,500 per month), with the employer only covering pension and national insurance contributions until the end of April. After this it will be reviewed by the government and they may employers to contribute more.
Since July, employers have been able to bring back employees part-time, and furlough them for the rest. This will continue, you can still flexible furlough.
To be eligible for this extension, employees must have been on the payroll by 30 October 2020, but they don’t need to have been furloughed before. Anyone made redundant after 23 September, can be rehired and put back on furlough.
The scheme can cover:
An employee can be furloughed if:
To furlough a member of your team, follow our step by step guidance.
Yes – you can but there is no obligation to do so. Whether you intend to furlough on 80% or to top up out of your own budget should be made clear to the employees when seeking their consent for furlough.
Yes, the number of employees in a single claim period can’t exceed the maximum number of employees you have previously claimed for before 30 June 2020. For example, if you made a claim for 5 employees in March, 15 employees in April and 12 employees in May, the maximum number of employees you can now claim for in any single claim period is 15 employees.
HMRC have now released their calculator to work out the furlough claims for individual employees.
It has been clarified that if someone was on payroll on 19 March 2020, you use their salary at that date to calculate the furlough claim for November onwards. This is regardless of whether they have been furloughed previously and if their pay has been reduced or increased after this date. If they weren’t on payroll on 19 March 2020 and were employed at some time between 20 March and 30 October, then you use their salary from the RTI submission on or before 30 October 2020.
You can’t put an employee on furlough just to cover their holiday. However, a furloughed employee can request a holiday in the normal way. If approved, each day of the holiday while they’re on furlough should be topped up to their normal daily pay. This includes any bank holidays over the Christmas period.
We’re waiting on further guidance on this. However, the government have confirmed that there will be no gap in support between the end of the previous CJRS scheme and this extension.
Think about what your business will need throughout Lockdown #2 and beyond. This will be helpful in directing you in what to do next. There are likely to be three categories your team will fall into:
As leaders, we’ll be remembered for how we looked after our people at this time. By starting to plan now, it gives you time and space to do this right.
Businesses can also get:
The Job Retention Bonus of £1,000 per employee retained by a business has been removed to be replaced in time with a possible “retention incentive”. No further details have been provided yet – we’re sure Rishi will get back to us.
Under the latest instalment of the UK-wide Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS), self-employed workers will receive 80% of their average trading profits for November. This has doubled the support to the self-employed from 40% of trading profits to 80% for November. SEISS is calculated over 3 months so this increases the total grant from 40% to 55% of trading profits for November to January and the max grant increases to £5,160.
At Wow, we can help you with calculations and work out how much you will pay and recoup in different scenarios. We can also help run your payroll and submit your furlough claims.
You should still get HR advice for your own situation. If you are a Wow client, you have access to our free HR helpline. If you need the details again, please let us know. If you’re not, we can put you in touch with an HR consultancy.
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