Government announces new incentives for employers

On 9 July the Chancellor announced a raft of measures, designed to encourage continued employment and to provide incentives for businesses to retain staff. Further details will be published at the end of July but the key measures are:

• A new Job Retention Bonus of £1000 per employee for employers who, once the CJRS has come to an end (31 October 2020), keep furloughed employees in work until at least January 2021. In order to qualify, the employee must earn on average at least £520 a month between 1 November 2020 and 31 January 2021.
• A new 'Kick Start' scheme for employers who employ 16-24 year olds on 6-month work placements with training and support provided. Funding will cover 100% of the national minimum wage for 25 hours a week. Employer national insurance contributions and employer automatic enrolment contributions to pensions will also be met.
• A new £1000 bonus where a new trainee aged 16-24 is taken on in the workplace.
• A £2,000 bonus for employers where a new apprentice under 25 is taken on and a £1,500 bonus where a new apprentice aged 25 or over is taken on (this is in addition to the existing £1,000 that is available in relation to 16-18 year-old apprentices).

New Treasury Direction on flexible furlough

On 25 June the Treasury published a new Direction on the flexible furlough rules that will apply under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme from 1 July 2020 until 31 October 2020 (when the scheme will close). The new rules provide for maximum flexibility between employer and employee on the working patterns that may be agreed. Although the wording of the Direction has led some commentators in the media to suggest that furlough costs will not be met where the employee concerned is eventually dismissed for redundancy, the consensus amongst lawyers seems to be that furlough costs will be recoverable provided the relevant criteria are met and there is no abuse of the scheme, even if a redundancy does occur in the end. Key points to note are that:

• The cut-off date for making claims under the old scheme is 31 July 2020.
• To make a claim in respect of an employee under the new scheme, the employee must have previously been furloughed for a minimum of 3 weeks on or before 10 June 2020 (with an exception for family leave returners and reservists).
• Employer and employee should reach a written agreement on the working pattern and a record of this should be kept for five years.
• The Direction contains detailed and complex guidance on how amounts payable to employees under flexible furlough should be calculated for both fixed hours and variable hour employees.

COVID-19 and SSP changes

Just a reminder that shielding for the extremely clinically vulnerable will be paused in England after 31 July 2020. From 1 August 2020, the extremely clinically vulnerable will no longer be entitled to statutory sick pay (SSP) by virtue of shielding.

From 6 July, those who are self-isolating as a result of coming into contact with those in a bubble or linked household who have become ill with COVID-19 will be entitled for the first time to SSP. It is not currently clear what the evidential requirements will be in terms of employees being able to demonstrate that they are in a linked household.

Revisiting risk assessments in light of revised social distancing guidance

The new social distancing guidance announced on 23 June, along with easing of lockdown, modified the two-metre rule. Essentially, people should socially distance at two metres or, where this is not possible, at one metre whilst taking mitigations to reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission. The "one metre plus mitigations" rule has been incorporated into the various workplace guidances that have been published. Employers should therefore revisit any health and safety risk assessments which have already been carried out to reflect the revised guidance. It is important to remember that despite easing of lockdown, the government's guidance remains clear that where possible, people should work from home.