Legislation and Guidance

As expected, a further Treasury Direction has been published extending CJRS from 1 May to 30 September 2021.  This modifies rather than replaces previous Directions and the rules of the scheme are, as expected, largely unchanged. 

Some changes have also been made to the HRMC CJRS Guidance Collection to reflect the operation of the CJRS from May 2021.  The changes include new guidance on identifying an employee's relevant reference day (needed to identify which calculation rules you should use and required for some calculations); guidance and worked examples on calculating usual working hours and wages for non-fixed rate employees; details of the multipliers to be used when calculating grants for July to September when the UK Government contribution reduces as well as daily maximum wage amounts for the same months; and updated guidance on the transfer of information needed for future claims in the event of a TUPE transfer.

The Employment Rights Act 1996 (Coronavirus, Calculation of a Week's Pay)(Amendment)(No 2) Regulations 2021 came into force on 30 April 2021, extending the effect of the Employment Rights Act 1996 (Coronavirus, Calculation of a Week's Pay) Regulations 2020.  This means employers will continue to be required to calculate various statutory payments, including redundancy and notice pay, by reference to a furloughed employee's normal week's pay until 30 September 2021 when the CJRS is due to close.

The UK Government has launched a consultation on making vaccination a condition of deployment in older adult care homes.  The consultation only applies in England but the other home nations may well follow suit if steps are taken to make vaccinations mandatory in this specific context.

News

According to a poll conducted by the Chartered Managers Institute, 58% of managers who were asked believed that businesses should be allowed to make Covid vaccination mandatory for staff returning to their regular place of work.  A further 43% believed they should also restrict access to the workplace for staff who refused vaccination for non-medical reasons.  Meanwhile a poll of private sector employers carried out by the TUC showed only 45% of firms were offering paid time off  for staff to receive and recover from Covid vaccination.

Analysis by the Office for National Statistics of Homeworking hours, rewards and opportunities in the UK has found that homeworkers did more overtime, worked more hours and took fewer sick days than those who have not worked from home.  The sickness absence rate for homeworkers equated to 2 days per employee per year, whereas those who had never worked from home lost 4.3 days per year.  This has raised concerns that the problem of presenteeism - working while unwell - is just as prevalent amongst home workers as those who do not work at home, if not more so. 

A survey of more than 500 employees across the UK, approximately half of whom had been furloughed, has found that furloughed staff have experienced a significant reduction in wellbeing, personal confidence, job satisfaction and commitment to their employer.  The survey was designed to explore the underlying psychological impact of furlough decisions.