Jarmans Solicitors can help with Furlough and related employment matters

With new guidelines regularly being announced for the Government’s Covid-19 Employee Retention Scheme (furlough), employers are finding themselves increasingly having to consider a number of employment law dilemmas. Jarmans Solicitors is here to help and advise business owners on a variety of different topics including bringing staff back from furlough, redundancies during furlough, and their legal obligations to staff who are furloughed.

Current Furlough timeline

• 10 June 2020 – Last date that a staff member can be furloughed using the Employee Retention Scheme. After this date, if you wish to furlough a staff member you will need to pay their wages yourself.
• June and July 2020 – Employee Retention Scheme continues with the State paying 80% of furloughed staff wages up to a £2500 cap.
• 1 July 2020 – Flexible furlough begins, meaning that employers can bring staff members back part time if needed. The State will continue to fund any hours that they are not required to work.
• 1 August 2020 – Employers will be required to pay NI and pension contributions for all furloughed staff
• 1 September 2020 – The Government plans to reduce their contributions to furloughed staffs’ wages to 70% with employers topping up to at least 80%
• 1 October 2020 – Government contributions will be further reduced to 60% with employers topping up to 80%
• 31 October 2020 – Employee Retention Scheme ends

If you are a business owner and are in the process of beginning a redundancy process or are considering laying off staff it is vital that you ensure that you receive the best possible legal advice to ensure that your process is fair and that you won’t be called to a tribunal. You may also be weighing up the idea of renegotiating contracts with various staff members, again we recommend speaking to a specialist employment solicitor before consulting with staff members.