From today (1st July), employers are now able to agree with their employees, who have previously been furloughed, that they can be flexibly furloughed going forwards. Under the new scheme, employers will pay employees for hours worked and then claim back any of the employee’s normal hours which are not worked, under the furlough scheme.
Key principles of the flexible furlough scheme
- Employers will only be able to furlough staff who have already been furloughed for the minimum period of three weeks, except any employees returning from certain forms of parental leave.
- Under flexible furlough employees can work some of their normal working hours and be furloughed for the remainder. The employer pays the employee (in full) for the working time but can then claim under the furlough scheme for the remainder.
- Employees may work part time and be paid furlough pay for the remainder of their normal working hours.
- There will no longer be a minimum period of furlough (previously this was three weeks).
The guidance refers to employers keeping “a new written agreement” when implementing flexible furlough and a comprehensive paper trail should be kept because of the possibility for HMRC to retrospectively audit claims.
How Nelsons can help
Laura Kearsley is a Partner in our expert Employment Law team.
If you need any help with flexible furlough agreements or with implementing the scheme, please contact Laura or another member of the team in Derby, Leicester or Nottingham on 0800 024 1976 or via our online enquiry form.
Government guidance on the CJRS can be found here.