What Should I Do to Make an Employee Furloughed?

As the Coronavirus announcements continue to come through thick and fast, we wanted to share in more detail what is expected of companies should they feel they wish to sign up for the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.What will the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme Do?The employee retention scheme, which will be given to all UK employers to have support with paying employees who may have otherwise been laid off during this crisis, is where the HMRC are offering to reimburse up to 80% of workers salaries up to £2,500, if they fall into the below category.

To access the Employee Retention Scheme you will need to:

• Designate affected employees as "furloughed workers" and notify your employees of this change (this may be subject to existing contracts and negotiation, as well as subject to employment law).
• Agree the salary to be paid by you with the furloughed worker
• Check their contracts and speak with your HR advisor or an employment lawyer to ensure you are following their contractual agreements
• Submit the information for you to HMRC about these employees that have been "furloughed" and their earnings, through the HMRC portal.
• Please note: You must ensure the employee will not be working for your company during this time to stick to the furloughed status.

What can an employee do during their furloughed status?

While on furloughed status, an employee will not be able to work for their employer, but they can undertake training or volunteer subject to public health guidance, as long as they are not:

• Making money for their employer
• Providing services to their employer

This can be a great time to invest in helping develop your members of staff, so look into optional online training that would be of benefit to the company once you are back to regular working.PLEASE NOTE: the portal is still in process, and once set up you can submit your furloughed requests. We are unsure on how long this will take, recent information available right now, the payment may be available from April or May 2020.