In reply to Lucy:

Lucy based on the research I have done today on this and the ACAS website that Keith posted in response to my earlier comment www.acas.org.uk/.../using-holiday - the answer to you question I would think is yes, this will be an extra expense that the business will need to take into account as annual leave will accrue at full time rate.
I would also be interested to understand how an 80% payslip would look if the person on furlough takes leave during furlough as by extension then it seems that the days that the person is on leave also need to be paid at full rate, so it would also require higher payment than the 80% by the business.

In reply to Ancilla:

www.cipd.co.uk/.../furlough

says we can allow

In reply to Claire:

We are paying £30 a month to cover cost for working from home. Seems fair and no one has complained.

I'm wondering if I can have some thoughts/guidance on the issue of furloughing where a seconded employee return early due to the covid 19 crisis?

Specifically; employee 1 is seconded to a third party for 'y' period of time and employee 2 is recruited on a FTC to cover 'y' period whilst employee 1 is out of the business. As a result of the current covid 19 crisis the project to which employee 1 was seconded has been put on hold and their secondment period ends on 30 April, therefore the return to the organisation on 1 May. Meanwhile, employee 2 has not been furloughed as they are deemed an essential worker. The situation will be that there are essentially two people for one job; employee 1 (the substantive post holder) who has returned from secondment early and employee 2 (the person on the FTC).

Would advice suggest that one of these colleagues be furloughed, if so, whom? Or would the advice be to terminate the FTC early if the provisions in the contract allow this/pay the individual the balance of sum they would have been paid should they have continued their FTC until the planned end date?

Grateful for opinions.

Many thanks

I would love some help with a furlough situation. My understanding of the scheme is to protect business and employees who due to the economic downturn require protection or retention to ensure that they are able to return to their posts when this crisis is over. My organisation has been going through a redundancy process prior to the crisis due to a planned end of contract. 3 of the employees who were made redundant on the 31st March have asked for the redundancy to be revoked and for them to be furloughed. We have no need for these staff after the crisis as the contract no longer exists. We took a decision as an organisation that furlough in this case would not apply, they are now threatening legal action. Have we made the wrong decision? What are organisations rights regarding refusing furlough?

In reply to Samantha:

Hi Samantha the CIPD furlough guidance is quite comprehensive, see this link www.cipd.co.uk/.../furlough they give super advice and it seems if your business is keen to go ahead with the redundancies, you need to have thorough notes as to why the furlough would not be a good option in place of the redundancy. The platform to claim furlough Grant's I believe is opening on the 20th April, so shouldnt affect the business's available cash flow and cant see why keeping the employees on during this time would be a problem for the business in this instance, it would avert any claims and show the other employees that the business cares about their employees. You could also consider asking the employees to take leave during the furlough period but bearing in mind the leave will be paid at full rate seems that then only a 20% top up would be required by the business. You could test the theory but as 80% is granted then maybe only 20% needs to be paid by the business, which could reduce outgoings for paying out leave on eventual redundancy...I stand under correction on this one, but trying to think laterally on best solutions.

In reply to Ancilla:

Thanks for you response. Where would an organisation stand on their being no work for these employees even after the crisis? Would redundancy start again, and I presume that the 3month period would count as an employed period and therefore anyone who then clocks over into 2 years service within this period would then Be eligible for redundancy payments.

Hi,
With regards to those employees who are currently on holiday or the scheduled Bank Holiday while on furlough, does the employer have to pay 100% for the holiday and Bank Holiday or can they claim for 80% from the HMRC and 20% employer.

In reply to Susan Spinks:

Opinion is divided.
I would not as it is for HMRC to decide.
Just listening to a HR Zone webinar on payroll which says you can

In reply to Peter Stanway:

Hi Peter
I have number of employees, on unpaid as didn't qualify for Furlough due to starting 2nd march. can I get your stance on whether whilst on unpaid they would still accrue and be paid the same as furloughed colleagues on Bank holidays and annual leave

Furlough and Salary Sacrifice.

Hello all. I wonder if you could help me clarify some confusion that has crept into a discussion we've had today.

A member of the management team thinks that, for the purposes of furloughing a member of staff, any salary sacrifice arrangements are automatically suspended. So members of our staff who are opted into salary sacrifice for their pension contributions will see a decrease in their employer pension contributions during the period of furlough and this manager thinks their net pay will remain the same.

From what I'm reading online I think the salary sacrifice arrangements will continue on the employee's behalf and aren't automatically suspended. So the employee's gross pay will still be less than a colleague who is paid at the same rate but has not entered into the salary sacrifice. If we, the employer isn't making the additional pension contributions during the period of furlough then without the employee opting-out (which they can do as Covid-19 qualifies as a Life Event) then they will be at a small financial disadvantage next to colleagues not in the scheme or if they'd never opted in to salary sacrifice always having taken their salary as cash.

Even if the employer wants to top up the 80% during furlough, which is very generous and will be well received, should we not still be offering the opt-out of salary sacrifice as best practice to employees?

Any advice on this would be welcome.

JJ

Am I right in saying that we are able to furlough employees for as long as we want (4 weeks, 5 weeks etc) as long as we are furloughing them for a minimum of 3 weeks and not breaking this furlough period.

We sent a letter saying we were furloughing them for a minimum of 3 weeks at which point it will be reviewed.

In reply to Molly Peters:

Molly Hilton said:

Am I right in saying that we are able to furlough employees for as long as we want (4 weeks, 5 weeks etc) as long as we are furloughing them for a minimum of 3 weeks and not breaking this furlough period.

We sent a letter saying we were furloughing them for a minimum of 3 weeks at which point it will be reviewed.

Yes

In reply to JJ:

Salary sacrifice is a permanent change to conditions and therefore doesn't automatically stop. HMRC have said however you can treat furlough as a life event and therefore offer option.

In reply to Jemma:

Jemma said:

I have number of employees, on unpaid as didn't qualify for Furlough due to starting 2nd march. can I get your stance on whether whilst on unpaid they would still accrue and be paid the same as furloughed colleagues on Bank holidays and annual leave

Yes generally - as the contract is still continuing holiday and other rights still exist.