Government to pay wages of those not working and boost benefits in new coronavirus measures

calcotti

TheBlueReptile said:

So would this cover employees who wouldn't be laid off, but would be forced not to work should the country go into lockdown? My employer has made it clear that in the event of a lockdown we would all be on SSP but I'm struggling to grasp if this new subsidy would cover that situation or if it strictly only applies to employees that would have lost their jobs entirely.

I suggest your employer said this before the government proposal because it was only made Friday night. S/he may now be in a position to furlough the staff and pay you 80% of your normal earnings. Worth noting however that because the scheme is still being set up there will be cashflow issues for employers because I think they will have to pay the money out before they are reimbursed and not everybody will be able to do that.

TheBlueReptile

calcotti said:

TheBlueReptile said:

So would this cover employees who wouldn't be laid off, but would be forced not to work should the country go into lockdown? My employer has made it clear that in the event of a lockdown we would all be on SSP but I'm struggling to grasp if this new subsidy would cover that situation or if it strictly only applies to employees that would have lost their jobs entirely.

I suggest your employer said this before the government proposal because it was only made Friday night. S/he may now be in a position to furlough the staff and pay you 80% of your normal earnings. Worth noting however that because the scheme is still being set up there will be cashflow issues for employers because I think they will have to pay the money out before they are reimbursed and not everybody will be able to do that.

No that's what they've said today, in a company wide discussion about exactly this scheme. They've actually said that as a company they are ineligible for it and so we wouldn't be given the 80% even in the event of country-wide lockdown or company closure due to the virus. Am I being misled by them?

calcotti

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-to-employers-and-businesses-about-covid-19/covid-19-support-for-businesses

Under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, all UK employers will be able to access support to continue paying part of their employees’ salary for those employees that would otherwise have been laid off during this crisis.

Chris36

If you are one of the 1.5 million who are going to be forced to isolate for 12 weeks and have a full time job, will you be classed as a furloughed worker and therefore be entitled to 80% full pay, or will you only be entitled to 2 weeks statutory sick pay. if the latter, what can you do for money for the other 10 weeks

calcotti

Chris36 said:

If you are one of the 1.5 million who are going to be forced to isolate for 12 weeks and have a full time job, will you be classed as a furloughed worker and therefore be entitled to 80% full pay, or will you only be entitled to 2 weeks statutory sick pay. if the latter, what can you do for money for the other 10 weeks

This is an question which seems to me unclear at the moment. There are two terms in use ‘self-isolation’ and ‘social distancing’. From what i have seen self-isolation is used by the government to refer to a period when someone is ill or may have been exposed. This period is 7 to 14 days. Government seem to refer to the longer periods as social distancing. I don’t think the terms are interchangeable. People who are self isolating are entitled to be treated as I’ll and therefore to SSP. I haven’t seen anything that suggests that social distancing allows someone to be treated as ill and if not they are not entitled to SSP.

There are so many people asking the same question (lots of identical threads on this forum) I really hope the government will provide some further guidance to clarify this.

A furloughed worker is someone for whom there is no work and if not furloughed would be made redundant. To me someone who is staying home to protect themselves doesn’t fit this description.

in terms of benefits it is a Universal Credit which is means tested and for couples entitlement is based on joint circumstances.

UKSBD

I think all of these people thinking they are going to be getting 80% of their wages  are in for a big shock when the full details are announced,  I will be surprised if there is bigger than a 10% uptake on this from employers.

Edit to add: The employees who are offered it will be those with long service (to expensive to make redundant) , those that the employer "realy" values and wants to retain or those that will be hard or expensive to re-employ when this is all over.

Jeremy535897

The coronavirus job retention scheme is for employers to use if they wish to lay people off completely (so they do no work at all) but keep them employed for when things recover. Employees cannot make employers go into the scheme.

SvenvB

Hi I was laid off on Thursday, 24 hours before the job retention scheme came into effect . As I am currently in a 1 week notice period am I eligible for the 80%?

Thanks

Jeremy535897

The devil is in the detail with this sort of question, and detail is something we don't have. I would hope for your sake that you would be eligible, but please remember that it is your employer that has to apply for the coronavirus job retention scheme, and if they don't, you can't benefit from it.

wjj19790

I work 16 hours a week and receive working tax credit.  If I am furloughed, will the WTC stop or continue as if I'm still working enough hours?