The Government’s latest guidance includes some provisions which mean that employers are going to have to make some tough decisions and make them quickly.
Whilst it is permissible to agree retrospectively to put an employee on furlough with effect from 01.11.2020 that agreement has to happen before 13.11.2020
The Guidance “Check which employees you can put on furlough” states that “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 1 December 2020, with further guidance published in late November”
This means that in order to be sure under current rules that as an employer you can claim furlough contributions towards at least some of the employees’ notice period (provided of course they are on furlough during their notice period) then you may have to serve them with notice prior to 01.12.2020. The situation after 01.12.2020 is uncertain but the indication is that you may not be able to – in which case employers are going to need to see whether they can afford to make redundancies.
Whether you are an employer or an employer, if you need advice on furlough or redundancies please give our Employment Law Team a call on 01384 811 811 or click here.
