November Changes to Furlough Explained
There are three notable things about the government guidance published on 10 November.
The first is the final paragraph
From December 2020, HMRC will publish employer names for companies and Limited Liability Partnerships (LLPs), the company registration number of those who have made claims under the scheme for the month of December onwards.
This means that the Company name and registration number will be published on the HMRC website for anyone claiming through the furlough scheme from December 2020
The second is that the fraud warning
It is at the top of the guidance. With a very helpful link for those wanting to report any fraud.
HMRC will check claims. Payments may be withheld or need to be paid back if a claim is found to be fraudulent or based on incorrect information. You can report suspected fraud in the Coronavirus Job Retention scheme.
What you need to take away from these is that if you are claiming furlough from December, it will be a matter of public record to be published by the HMRC.
The fraud warning speaks for itself.
The third is future redundancies
The other important thing to note from the guidance is to do with redundancy. Furlough can currently be used for contractual or statutory notice periods. However, this guidance gives warning that the approach will after 1 December 2020. So, if you have delayed redundancies and intended on kicking them into the not so long grass of January 2021, you might have to reconsider those plans and look at this now.
Remind yourself of what we already know about furlough from 1 November from our published update here
More information
The links to the government guidance published on 10 November 2020 are below and are well worth a read
Check who you can put on furlough
Claim for wage costs through furlough
If you need specific help or have any queries, please don’t hesitate to contact the EffectiveHRM team on hello@effective-hrm.co.uk or 03300 414589.
The EffectiveHRM team continue to work remotely during this period and we are delighted to have supported our valued clients with a brilliantly professional and seamless service during a difficult time.