Who can use this furlough letter template?
If you are an employer who wants to access the UK governments Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme , you can use this furlough letter template. it will allow you to recover 80 % of the salary costs of “furloughed” employees – i.e. employees put on temporary leave. This is a temporary scheme, initially for a three month period ending on 31st May 2020.
The basic requirement is that you are an employer with a PAYE payroll scheme which has existed since before 28 February 2020.
You can use it for full-time, part-time and flexible working or zero-hours personnel.
What is this furlough letter template for?
Our template sets out the proposed terms on which your employee is put on furlough leave. Once it comes into effect, you will be able to start claiming the 80% subsidy.
What are the main issues?
You need to have the consent of employees who will be put on furlough leave because it involves a change to their employment contract terms. This is likely to be quite easy to obtain if the choice for an employee is to be placed on furlough leave or to be made redundant.
You and your employees must follow the rules in order to recover the 80% subsidy from the Government. These include a requirement that your employee does not do any work for you or generate revenue for you during the furlough period.
Decide how much salary will be paid by you during the furlough period: some employers will pay full salary, some will reduce salary to equal the 80% that is recoverable.
HMRC said on 15th April that the scheme will be operational on 20th April and claims received and processed before the end of the month will enable the subsidy to be received by employers in time for salary payments on 30th April.
What detailed terms does the furlough letter contain?
- A brief explanation of the reasons for the proposed furlough
- The start date the furlough begins and at least the initial period – which must be at least three weeks
- the salary that will be paid during the furlough – either the full basic salary or else a reduction to equal the 80% recoverable from the government
- no work statement: a clear statement that the employee is not allowed to provide work or services for you during the furlough period
- how the furlough will end: either when you or your employee is no longer eligible for the scheme or you ask the employee to return to work or their employment contract is terminated.
For more information, see our Explanatory Notes below which you will also receive when you download the document from our website.
When I download the document, can I change it and/or use it more than once?
Yes, all ContractStore’s templates are in MS Word and you can use the contract on more than one project. For more information, watch the video on this page of our website or see our FAQs
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