The Government introduced the Furlough Scheme to enable organisations to place employees onto temporary leave, and to provide financial support that would enable those individuals to continue to receive pay, whilst furloughed.
The schemes aim was to help organisations to avoid redundancies and prevent unemployment, but due to the ongoing impact of Covid-19, the scheme has been extended a number of times.
However, the Government have advised that the scheme will cease on 30 September 2021 and they have put steps in place, in order to gradually reduce the financial support for furloughed employees.
Therefore from today, the percentage that the scheme will pay has been reduced to 70% of the current salary up to a maximum of £2,187.50 per month. Employers will be required to pay 10% of the current salary, in order to make the total of 80%, at a maximum of £2,500 per month. The employer will continue to pay the national insurance and pension contributions.
This level of contribution from the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme and the employer will continue until 1 August, whereby there will be another reduction in the percentage paid by the scheme and an increase in the percentage paid by the employer.
For any employee that is furloughed within your organisation, please ensure that they are being paid accordingly inline with the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.