Furlough Leave & Holidays

Many employers have now taken advantage of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, placing employees on furlough leave to allow them to be eligible to recover a grant of up to £2,500.00 gross per month (or 80% of the employee’s wages, whichever is lower).

The guidance on the scheme has been amended twice since it was first announced, giving additional clarity to what was a hastily put together emergency scheme. Our employment solicitor, Ben Stanton, has created two videos to advise on the terms of the scheme. Click on dates below and you’ll be redirected to the respective videos:

• 20th March 2020
• 1st April 2020

As these videos were created as soon as any information was released, some of the information has since been clarified by the Government’s updated guidance of Saturday 4^th April, although the terms of the scheme are still as outlined in the video.

Disappointingly, the Government has still failed to clarify whether an employee can take annual leave during a period of furlough leave. However, in its stead, ACAS has released its own guidance to confirm that:

“If an employee is ‘furloughed’ (temporarily sent home because there’s no work), they can still request and take their holiday in the usual way. This includes taking bank holidays.”

This confirms that if an employee wishes to take annual leave during furlough leave (or if an employer wants them to take annual leave), the employee can take their annual leave and be paid in accordance with their contractual entitlement, whilst remaining on furlough leave.

As an alternative, the Government announced The Working Time (Coronavirus) (Amendment) Regulations 2020, a piece of emergency legislation which permits an employee to carry over 4 weeks’ untaken leave where it was not reasonably practicable to take it in the leave year “as a result of the effects of the coronavirus (including on the worker, the employer or the wider economy or society)”. Holiday entitlement can now be staggered over the next two years, rather than employees having to take their holiday entitlement when they return to work.

If you would like assistance in placing your employees on furlough leave, or if you are an employee who has been placed on furlough leave and would like to discuss your rights, please contact Ben Stanton on 01908 660966 / 01604 828282 or by emailing ben.stanton@franklins-sols.co.uk.