So, as we find ourselves in another Lockdown, what is the advice for employers and their employees on this adaptation of the Government’s original Furlough Scheme? Here, we try and break these down and provide some useful links for more detailed advice and webinars.

HMRC have published full revised guidance about the extended Coronavirus Job Retentions Scheme – i.e. the Furlough Scheme. This has now been extended to March 31st 2021.

The key changes for furlough claim periods from November and beyond are as follows: –

• The UK Government are currently reviewing if employers could be eligible to claim for their employees serving contractual or statutory notice periods and will change the approach for claim periods starting on or after December 1st. Further guidance is to be published at the end of November. As things stand, employers may claim the grant for notice periods.

• In the cases of Employers claiming for an employee for the period from November 1st retrospectively, only backdated written agreements put in place up to and including November 13th may be relied upon for the purposes of a claim. In simple terms, this means employers should ensure written furlough agreements are in place by November 13th if they are wanting to claim the grant retrospectively from November 1st.

• After December 2020, the names of employers who claim under the Furlough Scheme for the month of December onwards and, for employers that are registered Companies or Limited Liability Partnerships, both the company name and registration number will be published by HMRC, so that this information will be in the public domain.

• Should an employee decide to end their maternity leave early to enable them to be furloughed, they must give their employer at least eight weeks’ notice of their return to work and the employer will not be able to furlough them until the end of the eight weeks.

USEFUL LINKS: –

• Top Accountancy firm, Dains, have compiled a number of useful HMRC advice and areas for businesses to focus on including: –

·         Time to Pay – HMRC

·         Raising finance

·         COVID-19 Business Interruption Loan Scheme

·         COVID-19 Bounce Back Loan Scheme

·         COVID-19 Job Retention Scheme – A Practical Guide (Check out our Top Tips)

·         COVID-19 Job Retention Bonus

·         COVID-19 The Self Employment Income Support Scheme

·         Financial forecasting

·         Grant applications, loans and funding

·         Cash management and profit improvement

Have a look at Deloitte’s upcoming webinars on COVID-19: – 

• 3 December 2020
  The COVID-19 webinar: health, economics, business

The COVID-19 webinar: health, economics, and business

• 17 December 2020
  The COVID-19 webinar: health, economics, business#

• For the latest Government advice and support: –

Click on this link for help and support if your business is affected by COVID-19 from the Government’s website

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