Harding-Hill, Moore Pen Article for ‘Employer News’ on Changes to UK Government Furlough Scheme

London Partner Rebecca Harding-Hill, co-leader of BCLP’s Employment & Labor Practice, and Associate Lydia Moore authored an article published June 4 by Employer News on Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s recent announcement of key changes to the UK government’s Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (JRS). The authors consider what the changes mean for employers and what immediate actions they should take. “As many of these key changes will have a financial impact for businesses, employers need to consider whether they need to revisit their practice of continuing to furlough employees,” they cautioned. “In particular, the requirement to bear some of the JRS’s costs from 1 August is likely to bring the prospect of redundancies into sharp relief for some employers. Others may need to consider contractual variations to existing employee furlough arrangements to accommodate the new part-time furlough flexibilities or more generally if looking to bring furloughed staff back to work on slightly different arrangements.”