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In the midst of all the despair being faced by many businesses, the Government announced a vital measure on Friday 20 March 2020 in the form of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (“the Scheme”). The devil will be in the detail and there are many questions in relation to how the Scheme will operate. Further information is expected in the coming days however for now, what we know so far is that:
For businesses that need immediate assistance with cash flow then you may be eligible for a Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan. The Loan is being delivered by the British Business Bank and is designed to assist small and medium sized businesses access bank lending and overdrafts. Loans of up to £5 million in value will be available starting week commencing 23 March 2020.
The Scheme is a very attractive option to many employers however there are many questions that we can’t currently answer. For instance, what if you need some level of work input from employees and so you are operating short time working. On the basis of the Scheme announced it is not possible to claim salary for employees on short time working. Can you move employees from furloughed leave back to working and then off again if you need to rotate and have a certain level of staffing? Who knows. We will update this note when further details are announced, hopefully soon.
An update to this article can be found here.
This article has been produced for general information purposes and further advice should be sought from a professional advisor. Please contact our Employment team at Cleaver Fulton Rankin for further advice or information.
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