On 3 March the government announced further changes to the Job Retention Scheme. At the time they said further changes would be announced to the calculation of furlough claims for those on variable hours and these changes are summarised below:
When calculating your furlough claim for variable hours workers for periods which start on or after 1 May 2021, when you calculate the amount of wages at step 1 and the number of calendar days in step 2, you should not include days during, or wages related to, a period of:
- statutory sick pay related leave
- family related statutory leave
- reduced rate paid leave following a period of statutory sick pay related leave
- reduced rate paid leave following a period of family related statutory leave
This is unless the employee was on one of these kinds of leave throughout the entire period used to calculate their average wages, in which case you should include the days during, and wages related to that leave.
Wages related to these kinds of leave include salary for the time off, statutory payments for the time off and allowances for the time off. You should still include payments that are not derived from a particular period, for example performance related (non-discretionary) bonuses.
The furlough scheme is due to come to an end on 30 September 2021, with the government continuing to contribute the entire 80% of furloughed workers’ wages until the end of June 2021. This will be reduced to 70% in July (with the employer contributing 10%) and 60% in August and September (with the employer contributing 20%). The maximum amounts which can be claimed will be reduced accordingly to £2187.50 in July and £1875 in August/ September.
Remember, if you’ve got questions about managing flexible furlough in your business, you can call Citation’s expert HR & Employment Law team 24/7 on 0345 844 4848.