On Friday 29th May the Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced important updates to the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme In June and July, the government will continue paying 80% of furloughed people’s wages, up to the maximum cap of £2,500. From July flexibility...

The Coronavirus Act 2020 provides a new statutory right to take unpaid emergency volunteering leave (EVL). This leave provides employees with time off to assist an “appropriate authority” in the health or social care sector, for example, the NHS or their...

A fair few holiday plans have fallen through because of the pandemic and an employee has asked to cancel their previously booked annual leave and take this time off at a later date. Do you have to agree? Quite often employees believe that they have an...

Employers do not have to get an employee’s written agreement to furlough A Treasury Direction last week finally gave clarity on whether an employer must receive a written agreement from an employee that they are to cease work under the furlough scheme in...

The Government published some helpful guidance The Government published some helpful guidance yesterday confirming the situation around holidays whilst on furlough. The guidance confirms that: Employers can require employees to take holiday during...

Extension of the Furlough Scheme until 30th June and some clarification on holidays Unsurprisingly on the 17th April, the Chancellor confirmed an extension to the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme by one month to reflect continuing social distancing...