80 percent help for employees

costas69

I work for a small factory and I have approached my boss about the 80 % percent of our wages the government is gonna pay in this coronavirus period.
he has told me that he is unsure as to whether he will apply for this as business has been bad for a while and he is considering closing down the company completely and if he does that the staff will not be eligible for the governments help as this help for employees is only available if he keeps the business running.
can my boss actually do this and if he does what, if any  financial support will I be able to get access to?
i am obviously very worried about all this

thanks

Jeremy535897

The coronavirus job retention scheme is what it says. If your boss shuts the business down there are no jobs to retain. What he says is right, although disappointing. Depending on length of service and your employment contract, you may be entitled to some redundancy. After that, it's seek another job and check whether you might be entitled to universal credit. Consider asking for a mortgage holiday if you have a mortgage.

General_Grant

Yes.  He can decide to close the business and make all your jobs redundant.  But he would have to pay statutory redundancy pay to all those with at least two years' service.  If he accessed the scheme to pay you 80% he would have the cost of operating the payroll and could still be faced with paying you redundancy at the end.
If you are dismissed on the grounds of redundancy and do not find work immediately you would need to claim benefits such as JSA.  Try the www.turn2us.org.uk benefits calculator.

calcotti

Given that the scheme is meant to be for businesses that have suffered as a result of coronavirus not as a general scheme to prop up businesses in difficulty it will be interesting to see if HMRC require any evidence from businesses to demonstrate how their finances have been impacted.