Furlough scheme extended

Furlough scheme extended

This update is written and posted on Monday 2nd November 2020 and will quickly become out of date once further details are known. We will endeavour to update it as soon as information becomes available.

The Government has announced a month-long lockdown, starting this Thursday 5th November. Importantly for businesses it was announced that the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (commonly known as furlough) will be extended until the end of November. Three other important points to note are that:

1. the scheme will pay 80% of wages, up to £2,500 a month per employee, with businesses only required to pay employer pension and National Insurance contributions;

2. to be eligible, employees must have been on the payroll since 30 October 2020. There is no requirement for employees to have been furloughed previously; and

3. there was no requirement announced that this only applies to businesses which are required to close.

Remember if this is the first time an employee has been placed on furlough, or they have previously returned to work, agreement should be obtained in writing and kept for five years.

The Job Support Scheme which was to replace the furlough scheme, has been postponed and is now due to start in December 2020.

During the lockdown, the Government has advised that the everyone should work from home where possible. For those who are clinically extremely vulnerable, the advice is that if they cannot work from home, they are being advised not to go to work.

Business’s being required to close are mainly those who deal direct with the public, through services provided or retail. Operations which cannot function remotely such as Construction and Manufacturing can remain open.

A further update will be released today concerning those working.

If you have any specific questions, please e-mail reception@sherborneslaw.co.uk and we will try to cover the point when the answer is available.