• Contact Us

How Does the Furlough Deadline Raise Uncertainty?

on Monday, 08 June 2020.

Employers will be aware of the significance of 10 June 2020 in the context of furloughing staff and managing workforce planning.

10 June 2020 is the last date by which employers can furlough staff for the first time in order to complete a three week furlough period by the end of June.

After this date, the current Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme ('current CJRS') will close in order to make way for the introduction of flexible furloughing from 1 July 2020.

The move from the current CJRS to flexible furloughing has been well-publicised, although currently only limited information is known about the mechanics of the new flexible furlough scheme, and how it will interact with the current CJRS. The Government has published a Fact Sheet providing an outline of the revised scheme and indicated more detailed guidance will be published on 12 June, which post-dates the critical 10 June deadline. This means employers need to think strategically in order to protect their position as far as possible based on what we currently know.

Structuring Your Workforce

From the guidance published to date, it is clear that in order to furlough an employee from 1 July 2020 onwards, it will be necessary to have furloughed that same employee for the first time by 10 June 2020 at the latest. This is because from 1 July 2020 onwards, employers will only be able to furlough staff who have previously been furloughed under the current CJRS. It would appear from the Fact Sheet, that the intention is that employees who have previously been furloughed can be furloughed under the revised scheme. However, they do not necessarily need to be on furlough on 30 June to qualify (this is important for employers who are rotating employees on and off furlough).

Under the new flexible furlough scheme, employers will also be limited to furloughing no more than the maximum number of staff furloughed under the current CJRS. These restrictions support the government's wider aim of winding down the Scheme and supporting people back to work over the coming months.

Moving Forwards

The position is less clear when it comes to the question of putting a previously furloughed employees on a new period of furlough leave between 11 and 30 June 2020. Under the current CJRS, staff need to be furloughed in blocks of 21 calendar days or more at a time. The current CJRS is governed by a Treasury Direction which dictates how the current CJRS will run until it expires on 30 June 2020. Between 11 and 30 June 2020, the current CJRS will remain in operation, but there will be less than 21 days until it makes way for the new flexible furlough scheme. The new flexible furlough scheme will be governed by a new Treasury Direction, which is yet to be published. With less than 21 days left for the current CJRS to run, it therefore follows that once the 10 June deadline has passed, employers may not be able to place previously furloughed staff on a new period of furlough leave until the new scheme opens on 1 July 2020.

What Does This Mean For Employers?

It is clear that employers should furlough staff for the first time if desired, by 10 June 2020 at the latest. Once this date has passed, it will not be possible to furlough somebody who has not previously been furloughed, either under the current CJRS or the new flexible furlough scheme.

Where employers were planning to place a previously furloughed member of staff on a new period of furlough leave between 11 and 30 June 2020 (for example under a rota system), thought should be given to whether to bring the furlough start date forward, or otherwise to commit to maintaining the workforce at its current level for the remainder of June. Depending on the employer's circumstances, it may be desirable to bring all planned furlough leave forward to commence on 10 June 2020.

After 12 June 2020, we should know more about how the current CJRS and the new flexible furlough scheme will interact, if at all. If the Government clarifies that previously furloughed staff are effectively entitled to straddle both schemes in order to commence a new period of furlough leave between 11 and 30 June 2020, employers may then choose to cancel current furlough arrangements in order to bring staff back to work and re-furlough at a later date. In these circumstances, employers would forego the right to reclaim salary from HMRC for a furlough period of less than 21 days.


If you require specialist legal advice in relation to the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme and Furloughing staff, please contact Gareth Edwards in our Employment Law team on 07899 915 692, or complete the form below.

Get in Touch

First name(*)
Please enter your first name.

Last name(*)
Invalid Input

Email address(*)
Please enter a valid email address

Telephone
Please insert your telephone number.

How would you like us to contact you?

Invalid Input

How can we help you?(*)
Please limit text to alphanumeric and the following special characters: £.%,'"?!£$%^&*()_-=+:;@#`

See our privacy page to find out how we use and protect your data.

Invalid Input