Furlough Over Christmas!

Furlough

(2 Minute Read)

Furlough claims over the Christmas holidays…

Can I use furlough for holiday leave?

Furlough, or the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS), can only be used if an employer can’t keep their normal workforce because of Covid-19.

You can’t furlough an employee just for their holidays. However, if an employee is flexibly furloughed and they take time off as holiday, they should be counted as furloughed hours and not working hours.

If a furloughed employee takes their holidays the employer should pay them their normal rate of pay.

What about notice periods?

For claims from the 1st December 2020 onwards, employers cannot claim CJRS for any days that an employee is serving their notice, including notice of retirement or resignation.

If employees were on the payroll on 23rd September 2020 and were made redundant or stopped working for that employer afterwards, they can qualify for the CJRS if the are re-employed and placed on furlough.



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I think I’ve claimed the wrong amount!

If you’ve claimed too much CJRS you must repay the money within; 90 days of receiving the CJRS money you’re not entitled to, or 90 days of the point a change in circumstances meant you were no longer entitled to keep the CJRS

If you don’t do this you could pay a penalty, as well as interest when repaying the amount you are not entitled to.

If you’ve made a mistake and not claimed enough you will have 28 calendar days after the month the claim is for to amend it, unless the 28th day falls on a bank holiday or weekend in which case it is the next working day. For example, the deadline for changes to November’s claim is the 29th December.


Publication

From February the names, Company Registration Numbers and an indicated value of claims will be published for all employers who make furlough claims from December onwards.

The indicated value of claims will be shown in bands, rather than exact figures.

Employers will be able to check if their employer has made a furlough claim on their behalf through their online Personal Tax Account


Kind regards Ilyas