What is HMRC’s guidance for extended furlough?
On November 10, HMRC published full guidance on the extended Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, also referred to as the Furlough Scheme, which has been extended to March 31 2021.
Employers and their advisors should take note of the following key changes for furlough claim periods from November 1 and beyond:
The government is reviewing whether employers should be eligible to claim for employees serving contractual or statutory notice periods and will change the approach for claim periods starting on or after December 1, with further guidance to be published in late November. Currently, employers may claim the grant for notice periods.
Where employers are claiming for an employee for the period from November 1 retrospectively, only backdated written agreements put in place up to and including November 13 may be relied upon for the purposes of a claim. This means employers should ensure that written furlough agreements are in place by November 13 if they are wanting to claim the grant retrospectively from November 1.
From December 2020, the names of employers who claim under the 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 publicly available.
Where an employee decides to end their maternity leave early to enable them to be furloughed, they will need to 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.
Markel Law’s legal experts have put together an extended furlough guide to put to rest any uncertainties you may have and to explain how the extension may affect your business. Click here for access.
For up-to-date support and guidance, including furlough, webinars, useful resources visit our COVID-19 Hub.
Markel Tax offers one of the most comprehensive fee protection insurance solution on the market. Any schemes incepted as of 1st November gain access to our 24/7 business and legal helpline as well as our DIY legal toolkit the Law Hub available for you and your clients. Our legal experts have identified the key resources UK SMEs need to safely run their business during the COVID-19 pandemic and have pulled together a range of resources including furlough contract templates, first redundancy consultation letter and many more.
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