Whilst the furlough scheme cannot be used where academies are in receipt of public funding, academies and schools can access the extended furlough Scheme for staff costs funded by private income streams, for example for before-and after-school club staff or some nursery staff.
On 5 November it was announced that the Scheme would be extended to 31 March 2021. Employers will be able to claim a grant back up to 80% of an eligible employee's reference pay, subject to a cap of £2,500. A review will be carried out in January 2021 to decide whether economic circumstances are improving to the extent that employers will be asked to contribute more towards the cost.
Much of the structure of the Scheme remains the same however, we have set out some of the key changes and points to note below.
Updated guidance on calculating and making claims has been released and the legal framework for the Scheme has also been issued in the form of a new Treasury Direction.
In order to make a claim under the extended Scheme, there must be a furlough agreement in place before the beginning of the period to which the claim relates.
By way of a reminder, agreements:
Without reasonable excuse the deadline for making claims are:
When calculating how much to claim under the Scheme, staff who were employed by 20th March should refer back to the previous reference salary. There are new pay reference periods for employees who started their employment between 20 March and 30 October 2020 as follows:
Because the Scheme has been extended, the Job Support Scheme (JSS) has been postponed and it is not known when/if this will start. The Job Retention Bonus will not be paid in February 2021 as previously thought. We will provide further updates if the guidance changes.
The updated guidance states that, "If you have staff costs that are publicly funded (even if you’re not in the public sector), you should use that money to continue paying your staff, and not furlough your staff."
As we have previously reported, where academies and maintained schools employ staff and the cost is covered by government funding, these staff cannot be furloughed. However, schools should be able to use furlough for staff whose pay is not met by government funding and who are not needed in the short term due to coronavirus. This continues to apply for the extended Scheme.