Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme: Flexible Furlough Update

A summary as to the guidance includes: 

 

• Changes to the scheme including key dates that you need to be aware of. 

• How you can claim if you bring previously furloughed employees back to work part time from 1 July (this is known as flexible furloughing), and how many employees you can claim for (in any one claim). 

• How to claim and what information you will need in order to do so. 

• How to work out how much you can claim, this includes an online calculator to assist you with your claim. 

• More information on how to amend your claim. 

 

In order to prepare – the advice is: 

 

• Read through the guidance to see how the changes to the scheme impact on you. The calculator will assist you to understand how much you will be able to claim. 

• There are webinars available that you can book on to via GOV.UK for more support. 

• Consider which employees you want to keep on full time furlough and which employees will come back to work (decide on what hours of work they will be working). 

 

If you flexibly furlough employees, then you will need to make sure that you agree this with your employee (or reach a collective agreement with a trade union). You will need to keep a new written agreement that confirms the new furlough arrangement. 

 

What you will also need to do: 

 

• Make sure that the agreement is consistent with employment, equality and discrimination laws. 

• Ensure you keep a written record of the agreement for five years. 

• Keep records of how many hours your employees work and also the actual number of hours they are furloughed (i.e. not working) for six years (you must also keep a copy of your records/calculations in regards to your claim to HMRC for six years). 

 

As from July the advice includes: 

 

• Start your flexible furloughing of your employees from 1st July onwards. The hours and shift patterns they work can be decided by you to meet the needs of your business. The wages you will pay will be for the time they work and you can apply for the job retention scheme grant to cover any of their usual hours they are still furloughed for. You can still keep employees on full furlough if you need to. 

• You can claim for periods ending on or before 30th June by 31st July – this is the last date you can make those claims. 

• You can claim for further furlough periods as required. The first time you will be able to make a claim for days in July will be the 1st July. 

 

The calculation: 

 

HMRC’s online calculator can only be used for claims ending on or before 30 June. From this date it will be required that you will need to work this out. This means that for any employees for whom you are flexibly furloughing, then you will need to do a series of calculations to work out what the furlough pay will be in respect of the usual hours that your employee is not working during your claim period. 

 

For help and support in regards to calculating your claim please call us on 0121 550 8509 or email info@godfreymansell.co.uk. 

 

For guidance on how to calculate your claim – please visit the government website CLICK HERE.