BUSINESS HELPDESK HELP DESK
ALL CHANGE AS FURLOUGH ENDS
The Job Support Scheme will replace the Job Retention Scheme on 1 November. BMF Service Members, Halborns, who provide the BMF Intelligent Employment Plus service explain the changes and offer guidance on next steps.
THE CHANCELLOR’S CURRENT Job Retention Scheme, which has supported many furloughed workers, ends on 1 November. That scheme was put in place as a temporary measure. Whilst the building materials sector has not been one of the hardest hit, it is now clear that the ramifications of Covid-19 on demand and jobs will continue into next year, and all industries have difficult decisions to make.
The new Job Support Scheme (JSS) is designed to support businesses affected by Coronavirus by helping them to maintain viable jobs and may well be a lifeline to protect jobs that are sustainable in the longer term. However, it is very different to the Chancellor’s original Job Retention Scheme which has supported 80% of some salaries for up to six months of furlough.
Under the new JSS scheme the government will contribute towards the wages of employees who are working fewer than normal hours due to decreased demand. Employees must be working at least 33% of their usual hours and continue to be paid as normal by their employer for those hours. The cost of the hours not worked will be split between the employer and the government (through wage support) - who split equally the payment of two thirds of the employee’s normal pay for the hours not worked.
The scheme ensures that an employee working 33% of their normal hours would get 77% of their normal pay (55% paid by the employer and 22% by the government), so you need to be sure the employee has consented to the wage reduction as a way of securing their future
COVID-19 JOB SUPPORT SCHEME
employment, so far as possible. The JSS is open to all small and medium sized businesses, including those who did not use the previous furlough scheme. Larger businesses will only be able to access the scheme if they can show their turnover has fallen as a result of the pandemic.
While the new JSS will be welcomed by some, it is not a complete panacea and it may create problems for others.
It is certainly worth considering the scheme as an alternative to redundancy for those attracting considerable redundancy pay outs, particularly if you are likely to see an upturn in their work over the next six months, and their redundancy would attract significant notice and redundancy payments.
But as well as creating possible solutions it creates problems worth watching out for:
October 2020
www.buildersmerchantsjournal.net
• Unfair dismissals In order to conduct a fair redundancy process you need to consult with the ‘at risk’ employee about alternatives to making their role redundant. If you ignore the JSS and the possibility it could be used to save the individual’s role the dismissal may be unfair.
• Recent redundancies Leading on from the point above, if employees are currently serving notice or have just been made redundant you should consider communicating to them why it is (if that’s the case) that the JSS would not have secured their role and avoided their redundancy.
• Age discrimination The JSS may encourage the retention of longer serving (and possibly older) employees, who may be more expensive to make
redundant. If you apply a practice of ‘last in first out’ (or a version of) you could find yourself liable for claims of age discrimination by younger workers. Take advice before instigating a strategy of retaining longer serving employees over more recently employed individuals. BMJ
These are just some of the areas that Halborns have identified from current government advice and questions from clients. If you would like specific help, or to benefit from year-round support through the BMF Intelligent Employment Plus service please get in touch at
info@halborns.com or call 0115 718 0333
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