When the first set of amended CJRS guidance was published on 11 November it included a statement that "The government is reviewing whether employers should be eligible to claim for employees serving contractual or statutory notice periods and will change the approach for claim periods starting on or after 1 December 2020, with further guidance published in late November."  Under the previous scheme it was possible to utilise the CJRS grant to pay furloughed employees while they "worked" their notice.

As of Friday 13 November, a further amendment has been made to the guidance.  This confirms that for claim periods starting on or after 1 December 2020, employers cannot claim for any days on or after 1 December 2020 during which employees are serving a contractual or statutory notice period (this includes people serving notice of retirement or resignation).  For claim periods relating to November, employers can continue to claim for a furloughed employee who is serving a notice period, however, as under the previous CJRS, grants cannot be used to substitute redundancy payments.

For claim periods starting on or after 1 December 2020 employers will need to move employees out of the scheme once they start their notice periods, which would ordinarily mean they would revert to the pay to which they were entitled before they went on furlough.  If an employee subsequently starts a contractual or statutory notice period on or after 1 December but on a day covered by a previously submitted claim, employers will need to correct the claim.