Job Retention Scheme Update – 20.7.20

As we are now a few weeks in since ‘flexible furloughing’ came into place on 1 July 2020, I’ve rounded up the most common questions I’ve received from business owners and these are all included in our updated CJRS Guide which is attached (we’ve received quite a few questions as you will see!).

Some great news to share with you too; On Friday 17 July, the government confirmed that contractual notice, as well as statutory, CAN be covered by funds to be claimed under the Job Retention Scheme.

I know this update will help out so many businesses who are thinking of making any redundancies over the next couple of months as the furlough scheme is wound down and funding for it changes. We’re already supporting a number of clients with redundancies and this update is definitely welcomed because up until now, there has been confusion over whether full notice periods as outlined in contracts would be covered and funded by the scheme. Whilst the original guidance did specify that statutory notice could be covered, it did not specifically outline what the situation was for any additional notice provided by the contract.

HMRC has now finally responded, stating the following:
‘You can continue to claim for a furloughed employee who is serving a statutory or contractual notice period, however grants cannot be used to substitute redundancy payments.’

Essentially, this now means that businesses can make staff redundant and not have to worry about funding any additional, contractual notice in full themselves due to the financial assistance provided by the scheme.

With the scheme ending 31 October 2020, it’s the perfect time to start planning ahead and review if your current staffing structure supports your future business plan. If you think you will need to make some changes to your workforce, we’re here to help work through this, so please don’t hesitate to get in touch.