For the past number of months, we have been encouraging you to think about what comes next following the end of the CJRS Furlough scheme, which was due to wrap up yesterday, October 31st.
On the evening of October 31st however, as Boris Johnston introduced further lockdown restrictions in England, he also committed to keeping the CJRS Furlough scheme in place across the entire UK until December, when the new restrictions are due to end.
It is not yet known if the Scheme could be extended even further, should the lockdown restrictions also be extended. The Chancellor has only committed to extending the Furlough scheme, which will be paid at 80% of an employee’s wages, until “December”. He has not yet confirmed which date in December the scheme will now run to.
Due to the extension of the CJRS Furlough Scheme, the new Winter Job Retention Scheme which was due to come into effect today November 1st will be postponed. Instead, the CJRS Furlough scheme will also be open for new applicants, so long as they were employed on or before October 30th. The Winter Job Retention Scheme will now come into effect whenever the Furlough scheme comes to an end.
What does this mean for employers and employees who wish to continue utilising the CJRS scheme?
Assuming you took advice from Copacetic, your Flexible Furlough Agreement will have included a clause which stated
“agreement ends when the government’s Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme closes (expected to be 31 October 2020) or if we decide to stop using the Scheme.”
As the scheme has not closed, this clause is still valid. As such, there is no need to get another furlough agreement signed, except for those employees who were not previously on the furlough scheme.
You can contact us directly if you would like us to draw up a Flexible Furlough Agreement with you.