News

If you have not already seen it, on 13 November, the Chancellor made a Treasury Direction under Section 71 and 76 of the Coronavirus Act to extend and modify the effect of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme. This is the legal document that sets out HMRC's responsibilities for managing the furlough payments. It has a a lot of detail (especially if you like algebra) but also contains tighter claim deadlines than had previously been the case. It is essential reading for employers and their payroll staff.

The Government has confirmed that the UK will have an additional bank holiday in 2022 to mark the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.

Whether you need to give your employees an extra day's leave for the occasion will depend upon your contract of employment.

I have lost count of the number of changes made to the extended furlough scheme in the last two weeks, but one very important change that employers need to know about, has been made tonight (13th November) regarding notice period and CJRS claims. It was hinted that there might be a change to the previous arrangements, but this has now been confirmed.

The Government promised more information on the detail of the extended furlough scheme on 10th November. They did – but not until after most businesses had finished work for the day. There were some aspects that were as expected, but some mistakes and some things that employers need to be alert to – such as the possibility that from 1st December it may not cover those serving notice as a result of redundancy.

The Government announced back in August that the “Shielding” arrangements for clinically vulnerable employees would be finished and that they could return to the workplace. However, since the reintroduction of the lockdown on the 5th November in England, new shielding measures have been announced that will apply nationally for 4 weeks up until the 2nd December.