Any furloughed employees who become ill, coronavirus-related or not, must be paid at least the level of Statutory Sick Pay (SSP). It is the employer’s decision as to whether employees are placed onto SSP or kept on furlough.
Employees that were employed and on payroll as of 23 September 2020, who were made redundant or stopped working for their employer afterwards, can be re-employed and claimed for, but the employer must have made a PAYE RTI submission between 20 March 2020 and 23 September 2020, which included those employees. If an employee who was on a fixed term contract, and on payroll on 23 September 2020, had a contract that expired after that point, then they can be re-employed and claimed for, on the proviso that other eligibility criteria are met. As under the original CJRS, employees are not permitted to complete any work for their employer that makes money or provides services for their employer, for hours that they are recorded as being on furlough. This extends to any organisation linked or associated with the employer. Employees are, however, free to participate in training, to volunteer for another organisation or to work for another employer, if their contract permits. Employees retain their rights at work, including their right to SSP, annual leave, maternity and other parental rights, rights against unfair dismissal, redundancy payments and they are entitled to be paid at least the statutory National Minimum Wage (NMW) rates for any hours that they have worked.
The Working Tax Credits working hours easement will be applicable for the duration of the extension to the CJRS, and there will be no change from the initial CJRS for employees that are on statutory parental leave.
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Extended CJRS – conditions and calculations 6 November 2020
A policy paper, published by HMRC examines some of the conditions around claiming under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS), and also provides detail around the calculations that must be used for arriving at reclaim amounts, and usual hours worked.
There are a number of conditions that need to be considered when claiming the CJRS.
Employee taxes
Employees are required to pay taxes as normal from their wages, so employers must deduct Income Tax and employee National Insurance (NI) contributions on the full amount paid to employees, inclusive of any scheme grant. This will also need to be reported and paid across to HMRC as usual. The grant does not cover employers’ NI or pension contributions, but these must also be paid to HMRC.
Employer and employee agreement
There is no requirement for businesses to place all of their staff on furlough, and employees can be fully furloughed if they wish, but employees are not permitted to carry out any work for their employer during the hours that they are recorded as being on furlough. Flexible furlough agreements can be implemented for any amount of time, and there can be numerous flexible furlough arrangements made between employee and employer. Whilst flexible furlough agreements can last for any duration of time, the period claimed for must be for a minimum of seven consecutive calendar days. Employers are able to fully furlough employees, so that they carry out no work for the employer, or have the option of flexibly furloughing employees, meaning that employees can work for any amount of time, on any work pattern, and employers can claim the grant for furloughed hours with reference to hours the employee would have ordinarily worked in that period. Employers should hold discussions with staff and make any changes to employment contracts by agreement. Employment, equality and discrimination laws are applicable to the CJRS process, including when deciding who is to be placed on furlough. Employers must have confirmed in writing to their employee, or reached collective agreement with a trade union, that they have been either fully or flexibly furloughed.
The Chartered Institute of Payroll Professionals
Payroll: need to know
cipp.org.uk
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