sole director on furlough, work 1 day a week?

persil26

sole director on furlough, work 1 day a week? as a sole director on 80% but would like to do the 1 day per week to receive limited trade  (and not claim those 4 days), my mates accountant said this was the way to do it. although i cant find any supporting info online to this, in fact appears that it needs to be 3 CONSECUTIVE weeks (maybe work the 4th week), but this isnt helpful to keep the business on its feet.

poppy12345

The minimum time you can furlough is 3 weeks and during that time you can't do any work.

Caz3121

https://www.shipleystax.com/covid-19-can-you-furlough-yourself-if-you-are-a-sole-director/

Furloughed directors as employees on can only claim on their PAYE element, even if they are the sole employee. Basic conditions are as follows:

• they can qualify as normal under CJRS
• they must not provide any services that is income generating
• can continue to perform their statutory obligations as directors/office holders e.g. official legal filings, Company secretarial etc
• only the PAYE element can be furloughed – not dividends

persil26

thanks for replies, i understood the non income generating part but the accountant seems to be saying you can stop the furlough for a day (generate income that day) then go back on furlough the next day, so long as you claim min. 3 weeks in the month. but it reads consecutive 3 weeks, hes the professional accountant though, im not, so need to question it.

poppy12345

Your accountant is not correct..

mobilejo

Never take advice from someone else' accountant - mainly because their advice usually relates to their customer's circumstances and not yours, and also because you get the Chinese whisper effect; the advice gets a little bit twisted before it reaches you. Perhaps your friend has misunderstood the advice, but that isn't for you to worry about. Everything you need to know is above - furlough has to be for 3 weeks minimum.

Grumpy_chap

You can do three weeks furlough, then stop for one day, then start another three weeks - I can't find anything that says a break in furlough has to be minimum 1 week.  Not that a 1 day work is necessarily that useful.

Jeremy535897

Grumpy_chap said:

You can do three weeks furlough, then stop for one day, then start another three weeks - I can't find anything that says a break in furlough has to be minimum 1 week.  Not that a 1 day work is necessarily that useful.

No, unless you use it to run your payroll and claim CJRS.

neilmcl

persil26 said:

thanks for replies, i understood the non income generating part but the accountant seems to be saying you can stop the furlough for a day (generate income that day) then go back on furlough the next day, so long as you claim min. 3 weeks in the month. but it reads consecutive 3 weeks, hes the professional accountant though, im not, so need to question it.

The accountant is talking out of his backside, or your mate has misunderstood him. It is very clear that the minimum period for furlough is 3 weeks and you must not do any work (of the type you suggest) during this time. You should be speaking to your own accountant.

Kaemi

Non income generating work only. So I've paid invoices, I've completed my accounts, written a few blog posts, updated the mailing list, but I've not taken any money, sent out invoices, worked for anyone basically. 

Jeremy535897

Guidance says:

"Where furloughed directors need to carry out particular duties to fulfil the statutory obligations they owe to their company, they may do so provided they do no more than would reasonably be judged necessary for that purpose, i.e. they should not do work of a kind they would carry out in normal circumstances to generate commercial revenue or provides services to or on behalf of their company.

This also applies to salaried individuals who are directors of their own personal service company (PSC)."

The law says:

"6.6 Work undertaken by a director of a company to fulfil a duty or other obligation arising by or under an Act of Parliament relating to the filing of company accounts or provision of other information relating to the administration of the director’s company must be disregarded for the purposes of paragraph 6.1(a)."

"6.1 An employee is a furloughed employee if- (a) the employee has been instructed by the employer to cease all work in relation to their employment,"

The wording is not clear about whether CJRS claims or payroll processing fall into this exception as obligations arising under an Act of Parliament, but writing blogs and updating mailing lists, or even paying suppliers, don't seem to qualify. That is why the cautious sole director furloughs for 3 weeks and then does whatever is necessary over a day or two before furloughing themselves again.