Furloughed Employees

markshowell

I'm self employed and have agreed to furlough my employees.
I have tried to find out more information regarding exactly how the scheme will work but all the websites just say that it will be done through a HMRC website and that details are to follow but my predicament is that I can only afford to cover my employees wages for 3 to 4 weeks before my money runs out so I need to know more details of exactly how the scheme is going to work before I commit to spending all my savings covering these wages.

bruno18

Hi Mark,
I haven't posted for long enough so cant link but check the Gov.uk website about Grant's aswell as the 80% Job Retention Scheme which is backdated from 1st March till End of May.

• a 12-month business rates holiday for all retail, hospitality, leisure and nursery businesses in England
• small business grant funding of £10,000 for all business in receipt of small business rate relief or rural rate relief
• grant funding of £25,000 for retail, hospitality and leisure businesses with property with a rateable value between £15,000 and £51,000

Hope these apply to you and ask a Local MP if they can help with turnaround time of these Emergency Loans to help prop you up and pay the employees before back dating of payments for the Job Retention Scheme kicks in. Ask the employees if they mind taking 80% of their wages for now and if all goes well you can top up their wages at a later stage??

calcotti

I completely understand your anxiety. Because the government has not finalised details you can’t see the way ahead. The official government guidance on Coronavirus now runs to 11 pages of documents so it’s becoming increasingly difficult to find documents even if you know they exist.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-to-employers-and-businesses-about-covid-19/covid-19-support-for-businesses#support-for-businesses-through-the-coronavirus-business-interruption-loan-scheme

Whether you can use a business interruption loan to initially fund the wages and then get reimbursed from the Job Retention Scheme I simply don’t know.

Even the House of Commons doesn’t know how the scheme will work. See https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/economy-business/work-incomes/coronavirus-job-retention-scheme-how-will-it-fit-with-employment-law

I don’t have an answer for you but I know the tension you will feel between protecting your future, looking after your employees and trying to preserve you business so that you can prosper and provide employment in the future.

markshowell

bruno18 said:

Hi Mark,
I haven't posted for long enough so cant link but check the Gov.uk website about Grant's aswell as the 80% Job Retention Scheme which is backdated from 1st March till End of May.

• a 12-month business rates holiday for all retail, hospitality, leisure and nursery businesses in England
• small business grant funding of £10,000 for all business in receipt of small business rate relief or rural rate relief
• grant funding of £25,000 for retail, hospitality and leisure businesses with property with a rateable value between £15,000 and £51,000

Hope these apply to you and ask a Local MP if they can help with turnaround time of these Emergency Loans to help prop you up and pay the employees before back dating of payments for the Job Retention Scheme kicks in. Ask the employees if they mind taking 80% of their wages for now and if all goes well you can top up their wages at a later stage??

Hi Bruno
Yes thanks for that I am already looking into all those options but the critcal thing is how long is it going to take for the money to come through.

kezzal27

My husband works for an agency and after last friday hes had no work and the agency were not sure on any action regarding pay? Does anyone know if he can as for furlough? They really didnt know anything and hes getting zero money when normally he does 40hours plus for them each week,? Thanks 

Jeremy535897

You can ask, but you can't demand to be furloughed.

selina2000

markshowell said:

I'm self employed and have agreed to furlough my employees.
I have tried to find out more information regarding exactly how the scheme will work but all the websites just say that it will be done through a HMRC website and that details are to follow but my predicament is that I can only afford to cover my employees wages for 3 to 4 weeks before my money runs out so I need to know more details of exactly how the scheme is going to work before I commit to spending all my savings covering these wages.

It is said the scheme will be up and running by the end of April and will be backdated to start from 01 March.

In the meantime there are numerous other financial incentives offered by the government to help with your cash flow, such as interest free, 80% government backed loans and deferred HMRC payments such as VAT and Income Tax.