Furlough changes update

Late on Friday 29th May we heard a bit more about how the CJRS will run in the next few coming months. Whilst the Treasury Directive and Employer’s Guidance has not yet been published, the main points are as follows: 

– The last day on which any new employees can be placed on Furlough will be 10th June. 

– From 1st July employers will be able to ask employees to come back to work on a part-time basis without it affecting their entitlement to Furlough. This means that employers could, for example, ask an employee to work 2 days per week and be on Furlough for the remaining 3 days per week. As businesses open up more I predict this will be highly utilised. 

– From August, employers will be unable to claim back NI & pension contributions. This will have to be paid for by the employer as normal.

– From September, employers will need to contribute 10% of an employee’s wages (so the government will only reimburse 70% of wages up to a max. of £2,190). 

– From October, employers will need to contribute 20% of wages (so the government will only reimburse 60% of wages up to a max. of £1,875). 

The scheme will close for good on 31st October 2020.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/claim-back-statutory-sick-pay-paid-to-employees-due-to-coronavirus-covid-19

For any assistance on implementing any of these changes, please contact our Head of Employment, Ilinca Mardarescu