Main points from today
- Health Secretary, Matt Hancock, led the briefing.
- Employers of essential workers can obtain a test for employees via the Gov website as of now. Essential workers and those in their household will be able to obtain the test from tomorrow. All free of charge.
- Test, track and trace procedure launched. Testing increasing to 100,000 tests a day by the end of April. Current capacity is up to 51,000 per day, an increase of 11,000 from yesterday.
- When the number of new cases begins to fall contact tracing will be key. The Government is hiring 18,000 new recruits to trace coronavirus infections.
Latest Guidance (employment and business)
www.gov.uk/guidance/claim-for-wages-through-the-coronavirus-job-retention-scheme
Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme: step by step guide for employers
Work out 80% of your employees’ wages to claim through the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme
‘How to claim’ section has been updated and information on ‘how to treat grants payments in Real Time Information’ has been moved to separate guidance called ‘Reporting payments in PAYE Real Time Information from the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme’. Time updated 5:30pm, 23 April 2020
Check if you can claim for your employees’ wages through the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme update today, 23 April 2020 – New information has been added on collective agreement reached with a trade union. Clarified eligibility criteria, including for employees on fixed-term contracts.
Latest Guidance (health)
No new guidance today.
Schools
What parents and carers need to know about schools and education during the coronavirus outbreak
Updated sections on closures, transport, vulnerable children, critical workers and resources. Removed information about Easter holidays. Time updated 4:09pm, 23 April 2020
Can an employee with multiple roles with the same school be furloughed in relation to the role that is not publicly funded?
You can furlough an employee who is in a non publicly funded role and they have no other roles with you. No problem with that at all. The five conditions are bullet pointed below.
What we do not know yet is whether you can furlough (and claim via the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme) for an employee that has multiple roles, where some are publicly funded and some are not publicly funded. You can’t furlough for the publicly funded role but can you separate the roles and just furlough the non publicly funded role?
Our advice would be to furlough those in a multiple role but only in relation to the role that is not publicly funded, but do not submit a claim until further clarification is forthcoming from the DfE. They are currently working on an online tool that will provide further guidance.
Check if you can claim for your employees’ wages through the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme
Employees you can claim for
To be eligible for the grant, when on furlough, an employee cannot undertake work for, or on behalf, of the organisation or any linked or associated organisation. This includes providing services or generating revenue. Employers are free to consider allocating any critical business tasks to staff that are not furloughed. While on furlough, the employee’s wage will be subject to usual income tax and other deductions.
If your employee has more than one job
If your employee has more than one employer they can be furloughed for each job. Each job is separate, and the cap applies to each employer individually.
Employees can be furloughed in one job and receive a furloughed payment but continue working for another employer and receive their normal wages.
When your employees are on furlough
You cannot ask your employee to do any work that:
- makes money for your organisation or any organisation linked or associated with your organisation
- provides services for your organisation or any organisation linked or associated with your organisation
They can take part in volunteer work or training.
Coronavirus (COVID-19): financial support for education, early years and children’s social care
For organisations that are classified as public sector, and where there is continued public funding, staff that are supported by that public funding should not be furloughed. For public sector organisations where there is also private income which ceases or has reduced, it may be appropriate to furlough staff who would typically be paid from that private income, subject to the 5 conditions below.
We would encourage organisations to first consider how they would be able to redeploy their existing workforce to help support the coronavirus (COVID-19) response. Educational settings that are in receipt of some public funding should only furlough employees, and therefore seek support through the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, if they meet the following conditions:
- the employee works in an area of business where services are temporarily not required and where their salary is not covered by public funding
- the employee would otherwise be made redundant or laid off
- the employee is not involved in delivering provision that has already been funded
- (where appropriate) the employee is not required to deliver provision for a child of a critical worker and/or vulnerable child
- the grant from the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme would not lead to financial reserves being created
It is also essential that the grant from the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme should not be duplicative of other public grants that your organisations may receive. DfE is considering appropriate measures to monitor use of these schemes in order to detect any duplication of funding, and will be considering potential options to recover misused public funding as required.
We are also developing an online tool that will support the education, early years, and children’s social care sectors, in working through this guidance, and understanding the different funding and financial measures available to support them, and their workforce, through this period of disruption caused by coronavirus (COVID-19).
The general school guidance starts here:-
Coronavirus (COVID-19): guidance for schools and other educational settings
General Guidance
The general coronavirus guidance starts here:-
https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus