Chancellor’s phased exit from furlough announced

The rules covering the final three months of the Coronavirus job retention scheme have finally been announced.

There are three key areas:

• • The amount of the grant will be reduced on a phased basis from 1 August as follows:

• The job retention scheme will be closed to new entrants on 30 June. For an employee to be eligible for a grant under the job retention scheme from 1 July 2020, they must have been part of a claim for a furlough grant before 30 June. As the minimum period which can be claimed is three weeks, the Chancellor has said that employees must be furloughed on or before 10 June 2020 to allow the 21 days to elapse before 30 June.
• Employees who have been furloughed will be allowed to work-part time from 1 July 2020. From 1 July, the requirement that employees provide no services to their employer or directly or indirectly generate income for their employer is removed.
  Furloughed employees can return to work part-time and their employer would pay them their normal salary for that period, with the balance of days not worked being eligible for the furlough grant until 31 October. Bear in mind that the furlough scheme being closed to new entrants from 1 July will limit those able to benefit from part-time furloughing.

A more detailed note will follow once the exact operation of the new scheme has been published.