Furlough Deadline Extended for Returning Military Reservists

Under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (“furlough”), employers are entitled to furlough employees and currently reclaim 80% of their salary, or £2,500.00 whichever is lower. There was an announcement by Rishi Sunak that the scheme was subject to change to the new Flexible Furlough Scheme ("FFS”).

The new FFS scheme is set to enable employees to return to work at times, and hours agreed between the parties, and employers can still claim the 80% grant for the employees normal hours not worked.  The new scheme will see a tapered contribution from employers and reduction of the Government contribution to enable the UK economy to return to some form of normal. The summary of the guidance drafted by us can be found here.

The new FFS scheme is due to start on 1st July 2020, which meant that the cut off date for enrolling new entrants was 10th June 2020, so that the eligibility requirement of a 3 weeks' continuing period of furlough, was met.

The Government have just announced by way of an update to the numerous Guidance documents, that those Military Reservists who were serving due to the coronavirus pandemic will be eligible for furlough, and the 'cut off’ date of the 10th June 2020 will not be applicable to them.

The Government Announcement can be found here.