What is flexible furlough and what are the rules of the scheme?

THE furlough scheme has been extended until September – but what are the rules for flexible furlough?

Chancellor Rishi Sunak confirmed the furlough scheme would be carrying on as part of his Budget 2021.

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What is the furlough scheme?

Under current rules, employees on furlough get 80% of their usual salary, up to £2,500 a month, for hours not worked until the end of June.

Employers will then be required to cover 10% of those wages in July and 20% in August and September as the scheme winds down.

Furlough was due to stop at the end of April, meaning it will last an extra five months beyond this date.

According to the UK Government, the coronavirus Job Retention Scheme has so far helped protect more than 9.3 million jobs.

What is flexible furlough?

Under flexible furlough, employees were allowed to be brought back to work on a part-time basis.

The scheme, which was introduced in July 2020, means it is up to employers to decide how many hours staff will work.

Employees are paid full wages for the times they are working. 

For hours not worked, this is when furlough kicks in and employees will get 80% of their usual pay.

To calculate what your part-time furlough pay should be, read our explainer here.

What are the rules?

Employees on any type of employment contract can be put on flexible furlough.

This includes full-time, part-time, agency, flexible or zero-hour contracts.

For any furlough claims up until April 30, you need to have been on your employer’s PAYE payroll on or before October 30, 2020.

Employees being furloughed from May 1 until the end of September must have been on a PAYE payroll on March 2, 2021.

Employers have the option to top up the furlough pay to 100% but it’s not a legal requirement and they don’t have to.

Meanwhile, the employer will need to keep the written agreement over flexible furlough after coming to a decision with the employee.

They will also need to keep records of how many hours the employee has worked and how many hours they are furloughed.

Furthermore, the number of workers an employer can put on furlough will be capped at the maximum number it has previously claimed for.

The maximum number of employees that company can claim furlough for at any one time was capped at 50 from July last year.

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This post first appeared on thesun.co.uk