Part Time Furlough Scheme Starting 1st July

From 1 July, employers can bring furloughed employees back to work for any amount of time and any work pattern, while still being able to claim the grant for the hours not worked.

Employees can enter into a flexible furlough agreement more than once and agreed flexible furlough agreements can last any amount of time.

You do not need to place all your employees on furlough and you can continue to fully furlough employees if you wish.

Employees cannot undertake any work for you during time that you record them as being on furlough however they can:

• take part in training (UK Government paying for your employees time to undertake ACAD refresher training for example)
• volunteer for another employer or organisation
• work for another employer (if contractually allowed)

If you flexibly furlough employees, you’ll need to agree this with the employee (or reach collective agreement with a trade union) and keep a new written agreement that confirms the new furlough arrangement. You’ll need to:

• make sure that the agreement is consistent with employment, equality and discrimination laws
• keep a written record of the agreement for 5 years
• keep records of how many hours your employees work and the number of hours they are furloughed (i.e. not working).

Please note that from 1st July, only employees that you have successfully claimed a previous grant for will be eligible for more grants under the scheme. This means they must have previously been furloughed for at least 3 consecutive weeks taking place any time between 1 March and 30 June 2020. For the minimum 3 consecutive week period to be completed by 30 June, the last day an employee could have started furlough for the first time was 10 June.

Full guidance can be found here, and don’t forget you can utilise the TICA employment law and HR helpline for any specific questions you might have.