Flexible Furlough Guidance Issued

Flexible Furlough Guidance Issued

On Friday evening the government issued further guidance on how the new Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (Scheme) flexible furlough arrangements will work from 1 July 2020.

The key points to note are:
• Only employees who had been furloughed for a minimum of 3 weeks prior to 30 June 2020 are eligible to be furloughed.
• However, employees who return to work following a period of family related leave and who had not been furloughed prior to 30 June 2020 are still permitted to access the Scheme.
• Whilst flexibly furloughed employees can do some work for the employer during the week and spend the remainder on furlough.
• The parties need to enter into a new written agreement setting out the hours/days that the employee will work whilst flexibly furloughed.
• When the employee is working, they must be paid in full with the employer claiming for the time spent not working via the Scheme.
• The minimum 3 week furlough period will no longer apply from 1 July 2020 (but claims to HMRC can only be for a minimum period of 7 calendar days each).
• From 1 August 2020 the tapering arrangements take effect and employers will be required to contribute to furloughed employees wages in order to access the Scheme.
You can read the updated guidance here.

If you have any questions about the Scheme or flexible furlough, please e-mail contact Paul Kelly at Blacks Solicitors on PKelly@LawBlacks.com or on 0113 227 9249