MSE News

Coronavirus Employees' Help

Full info on the extended furlough scheme, sick pay and more

Kit Sproson | Money Writer | Edited by Johanna Noble | Associate Editor

6 April 2021

The furlough scheme will now run until the end of September after it was extended for another five months. Until then, the state will continue to cover up to 80% of your wage if you can't work - this is still the case for many employees despite some lockdown restrictions beginning to ease. This guide explains how furlough works, plus sets out what other help's available for employees, such as statutory sick pay and working-from-home tax support.

Important: The info below is the best we have currently, but as this is a fast-changing situation we're updating this guide all the time. If you've a question that isn't covered below or in the other coronavirus guides, please email it to us (we can't respond with personal advice but we'll try to add answers in these guides).

Looking for other coronavirus help? This guide has info for employees. Also see:

Coronavirus self-employed & small limited co help for SEISS grant info.
Coronavirus universal credit & benefits for benefits updates.
Coronavirus finance & bills help for mortgages, debts and household bills updates.
Coronavirus life in lockdown for the latest on supermarkets, MOTs etc.
Coronavirus travel rights for the latest on holidays and refunds.

You can get statutory sick pay from day one
Looking after children and your rights at work, incl furlough for temporary school closures
Other rights as an employee
- Get up to £6/wk back if you have to work from home
- At risk of redundancy? Know your rights

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Furlough will now run until the end of Sept – how it works and how much you can get

The furlough scheme, which launched last spring, is specifically designed to help employers who are struggling to pay their staff as a result of coronavirus – for example, where restrictions force a business to part or fully close, or where employees are unable to carry out their work or have no work to do. This is how the scheme works:

The furlough scheme has now been extended until 30 September 2021. After the most recent extension the scheme was meant to end on 30 April, but it's now been extended for another five months. This is the fourth time the scheme's been extended.
Employees on furlough will continue to get 80% of their salary for hours not worked, up to £2,500/month. This will remain the case until the scheme ends.
Until 30 June an employee's furloughed wage will be covered entirely by the state. Employers will have to cover any pension and National Insurance costs though.
From 1 July employers will be asked to contribute more - but employees will still get the same amount. From 1 July, the state will only cover 70% of an employee's furloughed wage, up to £2,187.50/month, with employers required to cover the remaining 10% of the 80%. Then from 1 August, the state will only cover 60% of an employee's furloughed wage, up to £1,875/month, with employers required to cover the remaining 20%.

Employers across the UK can use the scheme – even if they haven't before. So those in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland should also be able to apply. It's open to small, medium and large employers, and those which are charitable or not-for-profit – and crucially your employer doesn't previously need to have used the furlough scheme.
You DON'T need to have been furloughed before to take part. However, depending what period you're claiming for you need to have been on your employer's payroll at a certain date to take part:

- For any furlough claims up until 30 April you need to have been on your employer's PAYE payroll on or before 30 October 2020 to be eligible. To be precise, your employer must have made a Real Time Information payroll submission on your behalf on or before 30 October 2020.

- For any furlough claims from 1 May until the end of September you need to have been on your employer's PAYE payroll on 2 March 2021 to be eligible. To be precise, your employer must have made a Real Time Information payroll submission on your behalf on or before 2 March 2021.

Been made redundant or left your job since late September? You CAN be rehired and furloughed. This applies if you were employed on 23 September 2020 and have since been made redundant or left your position voluntarily. (To be precise, your employer must have made a Real Time Information payroll submission on your behalf on or before 30 October 2020 AND you must have been made redundant or left voluntarily after 23 September 2020). We've more information on how this works below.

If you're rehired in March or April 2021 though, you run the risk of being ineligible for furlough from 1 May onwards – we explain why below.
You WILL be able to work part-time while on furlough. Your employer can either put you on furlough full-time, or you'll be able to work part-time and be furloughed for the hours you don't work. Your employer will have to cover your wages at the normal rate for any hours you do work. For more information, see below.

You can't work for your employer during the hours you're furloughed. This includes your normal work obligations and anything beyond your usual remit. However, you can work for another employer while furloughed (if your contract allows this) or volunteer elsewhere.

Employees on all types of contract can take part. This includes those on zero-hours contracts and fixed-term contracts, as well as agency workers (including those employed by umbrella companies) and supply teachers. This was confirmed by the Treasury in guidance it published on 10 November 2020.

Those who are 'clinically extremely vulnerable' to coronavirus can continue to be furloughed. As of April, people who have been classified as 'clinically extremely vulnerable' are no longer being advised to shield, and to not travel into the workplace. However, your employer can still furlough you if you remain unwilling to travel into the workplace but you're unable to work from home, even though the official shielding advice now ended. This is at the employer's discretion though.

Firms can REHIRE and furlough staff they've made redundant and those who've left voluntarily

Buried within the rules is a crucial fact. Those who were on the payroll on 23 September 2020 (to be precise, your employer must have made a Real Time Information payroll submission on your behalf on or before 30 October 2020) and have been made redundant afterwards (or left voluntarily) can be rehired and placed on furlough.

The Treasury has also confirmed that this fact applies to those staff who left voluntarily too.

Of course there is only a limited chance an employer will rehire you, but it is worth asking. And if they question it, then you can show them that this is the actual text from the Government website.

"If you made employees redundant, or they stopped working for you on or after 23 September 2020 you can re-employ them and put them on furlough. This applies as long as the employee was employed by you on 23 September 2020 and you made a PAYE RTI submission to HMRC between 20 March 2020 and 30 October 2020, notifying a payment of earnings for that employee."

Yet the decision is totally at their discretion. It's worth remembering the intention of furlough is to provide temporary income to staff in 'viable' jobs after the pandemic. So the most likely circumstances where an employer will do this is where they have made you redundant temporarily to protect their cash flow, having assumed furlough would end, and think they may need staff later on. There may be a cost to the employer as they will need to cover any employer national insurance and pension contributions (though this tends not to apply for lower-paid workers).

So if you are in this situation, it is worth checking.

Rehired and furloughed in March or April 2021? Your eligibility for furlough might change from May

For furlough claims from the period 1 May onwards, to be eligible you'll need to have been on your employer's payroll on 2 March 2021.

This presents an issue if you are or were rehired by your old employer in March or April 2021. While you might be eligible for furlough until 30 April, this doesn't mean you'll necessarily be eligible for furlough from 1 May – that's because you'll need to have been on your employer's payroll on 2 March 2021.

Currently furloughed? You can work part-time

Your employer can have you work for it on a part-time basis, while furloughing you for the remaining hours or weeks. Your employer will have to pay your wage for any hours that you are in work.

Here's how being on furlough for some hours but working your other hours happens in practice...

There's no limit on the number of hours you can work. For example, if you work a 40-hour week and your employer wants to, it can get you to work 39 hours and then furlough you for the remaining hour. The amount of time you work each week can also vary over the month, with employers varying it week by week.
When you are working, you should be paid your normal wage for those hours. For the hours you're not working, you'll be covered by furlough pay, so you'll get at least 80% of your normal wage. Let's run through an example of how work and furlough pay could interact:

Let's assume you work a 40-hour week, and you earn £1,000 a month for that. On furlough, you don't work and you get £800 a month.

Yet if you went back to work for 10 hours a week, that's a quarter of your normal working time, so you'd earn £250 a month for the work you do. Yet you're still furloughed for 30 hours a week, so you get three quarters of your monthly furlough pay – that's £600.

Adding it up, you'd get a total of £850 a month working those 10 hours, compared with £800 on full furlough.

Can I work one hour on and one hour off?

Of course, for some customer-facing workers who are paid per client, such as hairdressers, the workplace restrictions imposed because of coronavirus might mean reduced customer footfall when you actually restart work.

This will likely make the transition back to work financially challenging for many of these workers, as for the hours you're physically at work you won't be able to claim furlough pay – you can't, for instance, claim furlough pay for three hours of work that you've 'lost' through being at work but having to make the workplace Covid-safe, rather than seeing clients.

Quick questions & points

When can my employer make a claim under the scheme?

Businesses are able to claim either shortly before, during or after running payroll.

Claims relating to each month should be submitted by day 14 of the following month, to ensure prompt claims following the end of the month which is the subject of the claim.
How is 80% of my salary calculated?
Being on furlough guarantees 80% of your usual pre-tax monthly salary, as it was in your last pay period before 19 March 2020 (this will likely be February's pay). For those who weren't employed by their current employer in March 2020 and haven't been furloughed by them at any point, the 80% will be based on your last pay period before 30 October 2020.

If your pay varies from month to month – for example, because you're employed on a 'zero-hour' contract – the 80% will be calculated based on the higher of:

- Your earnings in the same month of the previous year.
- OR your average monthly earnings from the 2019/20 tax year.

If you've worked for your employer for less than a year, it'll be calculated based on your average monthly earnings while you've worked there. And if you only started with your employer in the last month, your employer will pro-rata your earnings so far and furlough will be 80% of that.

What parts of my pay are included in the calculation?

The grant paid to your employer will be calculated based on your regular, contractual pay. It will include:

Regular wages. These are the normal wages or salary set out in your contract for doing your job.

Non-discretionary overtime. This applies to guaranteed overtime set out in your contract.

Non-discretionary fees. These are fees your employer has contractually agreed to pay for you, eg, chartered membership fees if your role requires you to be part of a professional association.

Non-discretionary commission. This is commission that your employer is obliged to pay you due to the terms of your contract, eg, a certain proportion of a car's sale price for motor dealers.

Piece-rate payments. This applies if you're paid for your output rather than your time, eg, a jeweller paid per ring or a journalist paid per article.

What's not included in the calculation?

Not all the pay and benefits you get as part of your job will be included. The following things won't be used to work out your furlough pay:

Discretionary commission. This applies where the commission is not part of your contract, eg, tips/tronc for waiters, or tips for hairdressers.

Discretionary bonuses. These are bonuses that your employer can choose to pay, eg, if the company is doing well, but has no legal obligation to pay.

Non-cash payments. Any payment you accept that isn't monetary, eg, accommodation included with the job.

Benefits-in-kind. These are non-monetary parts of your benefits package, eg, medical insurance or a company car.
Does annual leave still accrue during furlough?

Yes, annual leave still accrues as it normally would if you were doing your job.

But currently annual leave is a stumbling block for many employers as it's not covered under furlough. For some employers, this can mean the difference between keeping an employee on or making them redundant.

We've checked to see if employees can waive their right to annual leave – HMRC said the "employer and employee can agree to vary within the furlough agreement".

Yet we've checked with employment lawyers, and they say you're entitled to the equivalent of 28 days a year (20 days holiday + eight bank holidays), which CAN'T legally be waived. HMRC have also confirmed that this minimum can't be waived.

But if you have extra annual leave allowance above this, you can agree to waive it – and it could be a good choice if it makes the difference between that and redundancy. Again, it's best to speak to your employer.
Can I come off furlough but then be re-furloughed?

Yes, you can be placed on furlough more than once.
Can I be furloughed if my employer's gone in to administration?

Sadly, despite the Government's Job Retention Scheme, we are seeing some companies, both large and small, unable to continue trading.

If your employer goes into administration, the administrator (the company now overseeing your employer's affairs) is able to put you on furlough – so long as you were on your employer's payroll on 30 October 2020. However, the administrator can only do this if there is a reasonable likelihood of you being re-employed by the company, for example, if the administrator thinks it can sell your employer's business as a "going concern".
What if I'm auto-enrolled into a pension?

Under the extended furlough scheme, while employers do not have to contribute to your wage until 1 July, they do have to cover any pensions and national insurance contributions that they normally would.

Any contributions that you as the employee make to your own pension pot will continue to be deducted from your wage as per normal.
What if I'm on a fixed-term contract?

Those on fixed-term contracts can be furloughed, so long as they were on their employer's payroll on 30 October 2020.

If an employee's fixed-term contract expired after 23 September 2020, they can be rehired and placed on furlough.

If you are on a fixed-term contract and you've been furloughed, your employer is allowed to renew or extend your contract. However, your employer must do this WHILE your contract is still running, ie, it can't be extended once your contract has ended (so any renewal must come before the contract's natural conclusion).
Can I be paid less than the minimum wage on furlough?

Yes. The national minimum wage or national living wage only applies when you are working or doing training that your employer requires you to do.

Furloughed workers who, by definition, aren't working can be furloughed at 80% of their normal wage, even if that takes their wages below the relevant minimum wage.
Can I be furloughed if I'm not a UK national?

Yes, non-UK nationals can be furloughed.

If your employer's told you you can't be furloughed because you're a foreign national, show them the relevant Government guidance.
If furloughed, can my employer pay me less than 80% of my wage?

If you've been furloughed by your employer, then it MUST pay you the FULL 80% of your wage up to the maximum of £2,500/month (if 80% of your salary is more than that) – it can't pay you any less.

If your employer does try to pay you less than 80% of your normal wage, or it asks you to carry on working while being furloughed (though you can be asked to go for training), speak to your employer and politely remind it of the rules.

Failing this, you can anonymously report your employer to HMRC's fraud department online. However, it may simply be a case of your employer being unaware of the rules.
Does furlough affect my childcare entitlements?

No, being furloughed – or any other form of coronavirus-related disruption to your income – shouldn't affect your normal entitlement to childcare.

For those in England, all three and four year-olds get some free childcare, and for many working parents this can be worth up to 30 hours a week. Separately, parents of children up to 11 years old (17 if they've a disability) can also apply for tax-free childcare, worth up to £2,000 per child, per year.

Both are dependent on you (and your partner, if you have one) earning a minimum income equivalent to 16 hours a week at the national minimum wage. But rules introduced by the Government mean if you're temporarily earning less because of coronavirus, but would normally earn enough to qualify, you'll still be able to get free childcare and tax-free childcare as normal.

For critical workers who are now earning above the maximum income threshold because they're working overtime due to coronavirus, they will also remain eligible for both schemes.

What if I live in Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland?

The measure also applies if you're applying for tax-free childcare and you're in Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland.

However, free childcare is a devolved issue, and the number of hours of free childcare you can get varies depending on which country you live in. We're checking to see whether the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish governments have introduced similar coronavirus-related measures regarding free childcare.

For more information about childcare and what's on offer, see our Tax-Free Childcare guide.
I'm currently furloughed – can I be forced to take annual leave?

We've heard from lots of MoneySavers whose employers have told them they need to take a certain amount of annual leave during furlough – with some unhappy that their leave entitlement will be reduced when they return to work.

According to the Government and employment body ACAS, your employer CAN require you to take annual leave while you're furloughed.

Yet crucially it'll need to give you notice, generally of at least twice the amount of time you're being asked to take as leave. So if your employer says you need to take a week's leave, it has to tell you at least two weeks before (unless your contract specifies a different notice period).

Your employer should also speak to you and explain why it needs you to take the leave, and should consider whether you'll be able to use your leave for relaxation. If you won't, for example if you're caring for a vulnerable family member, or you're ill, then you should be able to challenge your employer. We've more information on what to do if your employer challenges this back in the dropdown question below.

Vitally, both the Government and ACAS say that while you're on annual leave, you'll need to be paid your FULL holiday pay. If your usual holiday pay would be worth more than your wage during furlough – for example, if you're only receiving 80% of your usual salary while you're furloughed – your employer will need to top up your wages so that you're receiving your usual holiday pay for the period you're on annual leave.

There's full guidance on using annual leave while on furlough on the ACAS website – show this to your employer if it's not following the rules, plus see the help below.
Will my maternity pay be affected if I've been furloughed?

New rules mean that if you're due to go on maternity leave, your rights to statutory maternity pay (SMP) or maternity allowance (MA) shouldn't be affected if your company is furloughing staff.

Eligibility for SMP or MA, and the amount you receive, is normally dependent on your average earnings, meaning employees furloughed at only 80% of their wage were initially at risk of being adversely affected.

However, the rules mean that any qualifying employee who went on or is going on maternity leave on or after 25 April 2020 (including if you're still working but have applied for maternity leave) will get their SMP or MA based on 100% of their salary rather than 80%, which would have been their furlough pay.

For SMP, this means you will still get 90% of your FULL pay for the first six weeks – and not 90% of 80% furloughed pay.

However, if you went on maternity leave before 25 April 2020 and you had previously been furloughed on less than 100% pay, this may have affected how much maternity pay you received.

Note. This only refers to your statutory entitlements. Some employers offer much more generous maternity benefits – if your employer if struggling and furloughing staff, speak to them to see how that might affect any enhanced maternity benefits they're offering.
Supply teachers can be furloughed on their CORE salary

In normal times, supply teachers working for agencies and umbrella companies in England and Wales (it doesn't work this way in Scotland or Northern Ireland) often have their pay structured as 'minimum wage plus discretionary bonuses'. This is done to allow continuity of employment, but different pay rates depending on the job that is being done.

However, this structure causes a problem under the furloughing rules. Discretionary bonuses are not included in furlough pay, so many umbrella agencies (not all – we've heard reports of some who simply aren't contacting staff, and some who have always paid the full amount) who are furloughing teachers are basing the 80% of salary when furloughing on just the minimum wage – meaning very low incomes.

Yet HMRC did change its guidance – you can see it in situ on the Government's 'Work out 80% of your employees' wages' page. The key paragraphs are:

"When you're working out if a payment is non-discretionary, only include payments which you have a contractual obligation to pay and to which your employee had an enforceable right.

"When variable payments are specified in a contract and those payments are always made, then those payments may become non-discretionary. If that is the case, they should be included when calculating 80% of your employees wages."

This hopefully clears up the big issue for supply teachers in England and Wales. Now we hope all firms are furloughing at the right amounts.

Can bonus payments under furlough be backdated?

We've checked, and sadly past furlough pay can't currently be backdated (though HMRC tells us it's working on changing this).

How should supply teachers use this information?

The agencies' nervousness will have come from the fact that while they can claim for the higher amount to be paid to furlough staff, it is later subject to an audit if it was done incorrectly, so they will want comfort that they're doing the right thing based on their salaries. The new guidance should hopefully give them the confidence to go ahead and furlough the higher amount. So it's worth asking them again in light of this (and having the guidance to hand).

But ultimately furloughing isn't compulsory, it's up to the firm. Yet even if we ignore the fact it's the right thing to do, rather than leaving employees with no income – there is an argument that treating supply teachers (ie, their product) well is, over the long run, good for business once we start to move back to normal. That's an argument teachers may want to politely use.

Note. The above applies to supply teachers in England and Wales.

In Scotland, supply teachers on temporary fixed-term assignments/contracts will suffer no detriment in regards to pay, whereas those on short-term assignments between 1 January 2020 to 31 March 2020 will have their pay based on an average over the three-month period.

In Northern Ireland, supply teachers are directly employed by the Department for Education, which has agreed to keep paying its substitute teachers separately to the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.
My employer's not following the rules – what can I do?

If your employer has asked you to take leave while you're furloughed, but hasn't given you the correct notice or hasn't taken into account that you won't be able to use the leave for relaxation, you should first gather your evidence and start a conversation with your manager.

Ruby Dinsmore, employment lawyer at Slater and Gordon, said: "If, as an employee, you are facing adverse situations during Covid-19, such as caring for a vulnerable family member or self-isolating and would not be able to benefit from the fundamental purpose of taking a break, then you would be within your rights to dispute a request to take holiday.

"You should however discuss this with your employer and provide them with reasonable proof that you are self-isolating, sick or that you are looking after a family member who is ill. If you also feel the request is unfair or has not been implemented in the correct way, for example, by not receiving enough notice, raise your concerns with your manager and see if you can agree a way forward.

"If you feel uncomfortable approaching your manager or are struggling to come to an agreement, it is advised to speak with HR, and if no agreement is reached, consider raising a formal complaint. When raising any issue with your employer, it is important that you keep a record of the problems that you are facing in relation to the issue, whether in work or in your personal life, and provide proof where possible to your employer to support your claim."
Can I be furloughed if I'm being made redundant?

Previously an employer could furlough you even if you were on a redundancy notice. This changed on 1 December 2020, and now employers can no longer furlough employees who are on a redundancy notice.

If you are made redundant, any redundancy pay that you're due should be based on your normal salary – not your furloughed salary.
Can apprentices be furloughed?

Apprentices can be furloughed like normal employees. Apprentices can continue to train while they're furloughed, but they must be paid at least the relevant minimum wage for any hours spent training.

A message from Martin to the up to three million EXCLUDED from support

Note. This section was written in 2020, but much of this section still stands.

Martin Lewis, founder of MoneySavingExpert.com, said: "When the Chancellor's financial support schemes first came out, they were rightly lauded for protecting millions of people's jobs and incomes in this unprecedented health and economic catastrophe. At the time, I said in one interview I'd give it an A-grade, but what'd really count is how they'd help those who'd fallen through the cracks.

"Yet whether it's new starter furlough or self-employed support, freelance PAYE, limited company directors, dental nurses, shielders whose firms won't furlough and many more – those cracks are now fissures, with up to three million people desperate, without help or support. And so that grade has degraded.

"All my attempts to be allocated a journalistic question at the Downing Street press conferences about this have been turned down, so thank you to Andrew Marr who raised it, in my name, with the Chancellor on the BBC's The Andrew Marr Show.

"Listening to it will not make many hopeful. And indeed if you're in this situation, while you can hope for the best, it's best to plan for the worst. There's a new group, Excluded UK, set up as a community interest company by three people to try and give a voice to those missing out. It's early days, but at least it means there's a voice being heard, aiming to raise awareness."

Andrew Marr discusses the excluded with Chancellor Rishi Sunak on 14 June 2020. Content shared courtesy of The Andrew Marr Show / BBC.

Embedded YouTube Video

You can get statutory sick pay from day one

If you need to take time off work due to becoming unwell from coronavirus, you'll be entitled to your usual sick leave and sick pay. For those whose employers don't offer sick pay, you might be eligible for statutory sick pay (SSP) instead. You MAY ALSO be entitled to SSP if you need to self-isolate and are unable to work from home – including if you've been instructed to under the coronavirus contact tracing schemes.

How much is statutory sick pay? Statutory sick pay (SSP) currently stands at £95.85 a week. NOTE: Your employer may also offer sick pay which is worth more than the statutory amount if this is outlined in your contract.
How do I qualify and when can I claim? To qualify, you must be employed and earn an average of at least £120 a week to be entitled to it (see full eligibility criteria). If you earn under £120/week and you already claim universal credit, log in to your online journal, update your details and your universal credit award should be boosted in line with your drop in earnings. If you're not already claiming, apply for universal credit and if you need cash urgently, request an 'advance' payment. In addition:

- SSP is payable from DAY ONE where you're ill with coronavirus or self-isolating due to coronavirus. If you are off sick for any other reason (ie, not coronavirus-related), standard rules apply and SSP will kick in from day four, not day one.

- If self-isolating it must be for an official reason. This includes if you have coronavirus or you or someone in your household has coronavirus symptoms, or if you've been told to self-isolate by a doctor, NHS 111 or under the contact tracing schemes – England (Test and Trace), Scotland (Test and Protect), Wales (Test, Trace and Protect) and Northern Ireland (Test and Trace).

How do I claim? SSP is paid through your employer, so you must notify them. You can claim from day one of coronavirus self-isolation – though if your work normally offers more generous sick pay, you may be able to get that. If you then proceed to develop Covid-19 symptoms, or if you're unwell with another illness, you can continue to get SSP for 28 weeks.

Employers should also be flexible about requiring evidence for sick leave from employees, for example, if you're unable to provide a doctor's note due to being in self-isolation. If you're not unwell or in quarantine, but your employer asks you not to come to work, you should receive your full pay. For full help on your employment rights during the coronavirus outbreak, see the ACAS website.

Self-isolating ahead of surgery? You could also qualify for SSP. If you're told to self-isolate by a healthcare professional ahead of surgery, then you might also be eligible for SSP. It's payable from day one, but you'll need to self-isolate for at least four days prior to surgery to qualify (or three days, with surgery taking place on the fourth). The other SSP eligibility rules will also apply (ie, employed and earning at least £120/week).

Are you 'clinically extremely vulnerable'? Shielding advice has now ended, but you can still ask your employer to furlough you

As of April, the Government is no longer advising those people deemed 'clinically extremely vulnerable' to coronavirus to shield and to not travel into the workplace.

This means that you're no longer able to use shielding because you're 'clinically extremely vulnerable' – which might previously have meant you were unable to work – as a reason to claim statutory sick pay, even if you still don't want to travel into the workplace but you're unable to work from home. However, there is this option available:

You can still be furloughed by your employer EVEN whilst shielding advice is paused. Employers have the discretion to choose to furlough someone via the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, including people who were previously shielding and remain unwilling to come into the workplace, even though official shielding advice has now ended. However, this is down to your employer if they want to do so – so your first port of call is to speak to your employer.

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Looking after children and your rights at work

With schools now open again, many frazzled parents are breathing a sigh of relief. However, for those still juggling or having to deal with a temporary closure due to coronavirus, here's what you can do:

Employers CAN furlough those who can't work due to looking after children (and can do so on a flexible basis)

Employers have discretion to choose to furlough someone via the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, including parents who can't work due to school closures. Yet as employers are nervous about this, to help, last April Martin tweeted the Chancellor for clarification, and got back an official statement saying it's correct. We re-checked this with HMRC on 30 December 2020, and it said:

"Employees who are unable to work because they have caring responsibilities resulting from coronavirus can be furloughed. For example, employees that need to look after children can be furloughed. It is for the employer to decide whether to offer to furlough an employee."

This is how it works:

You first need to ask your employer if it is willing to furlough you. It's down to each individual employer to decide whether or not it's happy to furlough you – so your first port of call is to speak to your employer.
You can be furloughed on a flexible basis, so you can still work as normal some of the time. This means you can work for any amount of time and any shift pattern, only claiming furlough pay for the hours not worked. You will be paid your normal wage for the hours you do work and the hours you don't work will be covered by furlough pay – giving you at least 80% of your normal wage.

For example, Mum Mary could work her normal hours Monday-Thursday and then be furloughed Friday, while Daddy Dave could be furloughed Monday, but work his normal hours Tuesday-Friday.

There is no minimum furlough period – it could be for as little as one hour. The amount of time you work each week can also vary on a weekly basis. So if you can't afford to be fully furloughed, you might be able to do so for just a fraction of time.

For example, if you work a 40-hour week and your employer agrees, you can work 39 hours and then be furloughed for the remaining hour.

See the furlough section above for the full lowdown.

If furlough is not an option for you, there are other things to consider:

By law, employees have the right to take time off work to help someone who depends on them in an unexpected event. However, you DON'T have a legal right to be paid for this time, though some employers may offer paid time off in this situation depending on your contract or your workplace's policy.

There's no official limit on how much time you're allowed to take off. It just must be "reasonable" for the situation.

Look at other options, including taking annual leave or unpaid parental leave. If you do need to spend a longer period away from work, you may also be able to book the time off as holiday, or take unpaid parental leave. Parental leave is available for employed parents who have been with their company for more than a year, and is usually limited to four weeks' leave per year, per child – though it could be extended at your employer's discretion. It's important to note that it's unpaid though.

See if flexible working can help. You also have the legal right to ask to work flexibly as long as you've worked for your employer for at least 26 weeks, and it must consider your request and deal with it "in a reasonable manner". This could include asking to change or reduce your hours so you can look after your children.

Other employee rights during the pandemic

While it's not part of the furlough scheme, there are a few other things you need to know about your rights as an employee that are relevant, including annual leave and a tax break that's available if you need to work from home...

You may be able to carry over unused annual leave by up to two years

Normally, businesses need to make sure that their employees take at least the statutory minimum 28 days of annual leave (made up of 20 discretionary days, and time equivalent to the eight UK bank holidays).

However, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy released emergency legislation in March, temporarily allowing businesses to let employees take less than the statutory minimum number of days of leave this year. This is aimed at employers on the front line of coronavirus (like hospitals, supermarkets and pharmacies), to make sure they have enough staff working each day to keep providing the services the country most needs during this crisis.

The alternative would be the employer forcing its employees to take the leave they're owed because they're required to do so by law, potentially leaving them short-staffed at a crucial time.

Technically, the legislation allows all employers to let workers carry leave over into the following two years. However, just like the furlough scheme further up this guide, it doesn't force employers to do it. Your employer will decide whether it wants or needs to be more flexible with its leave policy. If you've not heard anything from your employer, ask it if it's planning to make any changes.
Working from home? You can claim tax back on additional home expenses
If your employer requires you to work at home you can claim for increased costs due to working from home, eg, heating and electricity (one estimate suggests bills are up £30/week). Clearly, right now millions are required to work at home, so this applies.

In practice, apportioning the cost is tough, so instead you can claim a £6/week rate. You can make a claim in two ways:

Employers can pay you £6/week extra, free of tax. Yet right now, with many firms struggling, asking may be bad timing, so...

If not, you can claim tax relief on £6 of income per week, which for basic 20% taxpayers is £1.20/week (about £60/year), and higher 40% taxpayers £2.40/week (about £125/year). You can apply directly to HMRC for this tax relief – and as long as you're claiming relief on the equivalent of £6/week for the period you worked from home, you won't have to provide evidence of the extra spending.

Required to work from home, even for ONE DAY, since 6 April 2021? You can claim tax relief from HMRC for the WHOLE TAX YEAR. It may sound too good to be true, but it's perfectly legitimate. So one day of working from home could be worth £60 or £125.

Plus, if you worked from home, even for ONE DAY, in the 2020/21 tax year, then you can backdate claim for that entire year whilst claiming for 2021/22 (so you claim for both tax years in one sitting).

Sounds complicated? Don't worry, there's full info on how to claim in Martin's Working from home due to coronavirus? Claim tax back on extra costs blog – or if you're ready to claim, then you can do so via the Gov.uk website.

More than TWO MILLION people have successfully claimed this tax relief since Martin first blogged about it back in October 2020.
You can now be reimbursed for home office equipment without being taxed on it

With huge swathes of the UK's workforce still working from home, many have had to kit themselves out with office equipment which employers are then reimbursing. Usually, these reimbursements are treated as taxable benefits-in-kind, which means you need to pay both tax and national insurance (NI) on them. But newly-announced regulations mean that this reimbursement – so long as the home-working is solely down to coronavirus – now won't incur a tax charge.

Reimbursements for kit the employee has bought used to be subject to tax because it enables the employee to perform their duties, but isn't incurred while performing them. It's a techy point, but it does matter to HMRC. However, this is temporary, as it'll only affect reimbursements made up until the end of the 2020/21 tax year (5 April 2021). It also doesn't apply to workers who normally work from home.

You don't need to do anything, as it's down to your employer to sort out the tax on your payroll and expenses. However, if you are claiming expenses for reimbursement of home office kit, it's worth checking you've been paid the full amount, without tax and NI being taken off. If your employer hasn't done this, you can point them towards the relevant Government legislation.
If you are (or may be) made redundant, know your rights

Sadly, many have been laid off as a result of the ongoing coronavirus crisis. Unfortunately, it is likely to be difficult for many to find alternative employment while the shutdown conditions are still on.

If you are (or may be) made redundant, it's vital to know your rights and to get a survival plan in place. This could include sorting your finances and making a debt audit, and making sure you're receiving all the help you're entitled to.

It's also important to know that being on furlough SHOULDN'T impact your normal statutory redundancy rights (eg, any entitlement to redundancy pay or notice). Our Redundancy Help guide takes you through all this and more, step by step.

It's also worth using our Benefits Checker to see what you may be entitled to or read our Coronavirus Universal Credit & Benefits guide.

Looking for other help? This guide has info about how coronavirus affects employees. We also have...

Coronavirus self-employed & small limited co help for SEISS grant info.
Coronavirus universal credit & benefits for benefits updates.
Coronavirus finance & bills help incl mortgages, debts and bills support.
Coronavirus life in lockdown for the latest on supermarkets, MOTs etc.
Coronavirus travel rights for the latest on holidays and refunds.

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