On Friday the Chancellor made an unprecedented announcement to the effect that government was willing to support companies who other wise would have laid off their employees to the extent of up to £2500 per month.
The detail is always has still to follow but the basics appear to be
- The employer will have to designate affected employees as furloughed i.e. you are changing their status
- You will need the affected employees’ agreement. I can supply you with a form to enable you to do this
- If you have a lay off clause in your contract that’s easy if not it should be a simple negotiation ‘you will get 80% of your salary if you stay at home otherwise you may be out of a job’
- Once designated as furloughed the employer can claim back from HMRC 80% of the salary up to a cap of £2500 initially for 3 months.it is unclear whether this is gross or net The actual mechanism of how this will work has still be clarified by HMRC but they have said it will be backdated to the date of the announcement. It appears that the employer is unlikely to receive the reimbursement before May due to the lags in the system
- The furloughed employee must not undertake work for the employer
- The employer does not have to top up the salary to 100%
- This scheme does not apply to self-employed contractors
Please contact me on www.ukemploymentlawadvice.co.uk for any advice or help