Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme

5th January 2021

The Update covers:

• Roles that are not publicly funded
• Staff that are Clinically Extremely Vulnerable
• Staff that have Caring Responsibilities

Over the past few days, we have had a number of questions from schools about whether they can access the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme which has been extended until 30 April 2021.  Based on the government announcement last night, the scheme may change however, I thought it may be useful to provide an overview of the current situation as you consider and implement other changes.

The previous scheme did not provide clear advice about whether schools could make a claim however the guidance issued on the 23^rd December 2020 states any entity with a UK payroll can apply, including businesses, charities, recruitment agencies and public authorities.

If you cannot maintain your workforce because your operations have been affected by coronavirus (COVID-19), you can furlough employees and apply for a grant to cover a portion of their usual monthly wage costs where you record them as being on furlough.

However, this does not apply to all staff in schools.  If you have staff costs that are publicly funded (even if you’re not in the public sector), you should use that money to continue paying your staff, and not furlough your staff.  It does state that organisations can use the scheme if they are not fully funded by public grants and they should contact their sponsor department or respective administration for further guidance.  Therefore, this is likely to apply to staff you employ within your Before and After Schools and/or roles within your school that are not publicly funded.  However, you must contact your ‘sponsor department’ (I would assume for most schools will be the Local Authority Payroll Team) before discussing and agreeing this with staff.

Key points

• The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme has been extended until 30 April 2021. You can claim 80% of an employee’s usual salary for hours not worked, up to a maximum of £2,500 per month.
• Employers can furlough employees for any amount of time and any work pattern, while still being able to claim the grant for the hours not worked.
• You can only claim for furloughed employees that were employed and on payroll on 30 October 2020. This may differ where you have made employees redundant, or they stopped working for you on or after 23 September 2020 and you have subsequently re-employed them.
• You will need to pay for employer National Insurance contributions and pension costs. Find out more information on employer contributions to the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.
• Claims for furlough days in December 2020 must be made by 14 January 2021.
• You must obtain written agreement from the employee to the arrangements otherwise the School is likely to breach the employment contract.
• Employees cannot undertake any work for the School during time that you record them as being on furlough. Many schools have mult-post employees therefore this needs to be discussed further with the ‘sponsor organisation’ as the guidance is contradictory as you are allowed to flexibly furlough employees as stated below.

Furlough options

You do not need to place all your employees on furlough.  You can:

• fully furlough some employees – they cannot undertake any work for you while furloughed full time
• flexibly furlough employees – they can work for any amount of time, and any work pattern but they cannot do any work for you during hours that you record them as being on furlough.

Agreeing to furlough employees

Headteachers should discuss the reasons and approach to Furlough with their staff and make any changes to the employment contract by agreement. When making decisions in relation to the process, including deciding who to offer furlough to, equality and discrimination laws will apply in the usual way.

To be eligible for the scheme, you must have confirmed to your employee/s in writing that they have been furloughed. You must:

• make sure that the agreement is consistent with employment, equality and discrimination laws
• keep a written record of the agreement for five years
• keep recordsof how many hours your employees work and the number of hours they are furloughed (i.e. not working)

The employee does not have to provide a written response.

Clinically Extremely Vulnerable and Caring Responsibilities

In addition to the above, we have also been asked if Schools can claim for staff that cannot work due to being Clinically Extremely Vulnerable (CEV) or need to stay at home due to caring responsibilities.  The CJRS guidance issued on 4^th November 2020, does state that this option is available however the caveat to that is that the scheme also states that it should not be used for public funded roles.

However, the government updated guidance for schools issued on 30^th December 2020 provides a link under the CEV section to CEV guidance dated 31^st December 2020 which advises staff to discuss this option with their employer and this is also stated in the government CEV letter dated 20th December 2020. Therefore, I would advise to contact your ‘sponsor department’ to check this further.

If you need any support with the furlough scheme, discussions with staff and/or a template furlough letter then please contact your HR Consultant on 0161 850 4343 or by email.