Furlough start: When will furlough payments start in UK?
FURLOUGH payments will rescue the millions of Brits who are no longer able to work, but when will furlough payments start in the UK?
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The Government's Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, which has been backdated to March 1, 2020, is open to all UK residents for at least three months. Those who can no longer work due to coronavirus will be furloughed and able to claim part of their wages. The government has pledged to pay 80 percent of furloughed employees' wages up to £2,500 a month. When will furlough payments start in the UK?
Who is eligible for furlough?
Any entity with a UK payroll can apply, including businesses, charities, recruitment agencies and public authorities.
In order to claim furlough payments, you must have:
- created and started a PAYE payroll scheme on or before 28 February 2020
- enrolled for PAYE online - this can take up to 10 days
- a UK bank account
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Employees hired after February 28, 2020 can't be furloughed and claimed for with the scheme.
To qualify for the scheme, employees can be on any type of employment contract, including full-time, part-time, agency, flexible or zero-hour contracts.
Foreign nationals are also eligible to be furloughed.
When on furlough, an employee cannot undertake work for or on behalf of the organisation.
Apprentices can be furloughed as long as they are still paid the Apprenticeship Minimum Wage, National Living Wage or National Minimum Wage for all time they spend training.
Individuals can furlough their employees if they are paid through PAYE and were on their payroll on or before February 28, 2020.
This would apply if you need to furlough your nanny or cleaner.
It's unlikely that employees of public sector organisations will be furloughed, since most are continuing to provide essential public services.
When will furlough payments start in the UK?
The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme officially launched on March 1.
This means you can backdate your furlough leave and get paid for working from March 1 if that's when you were furloughed.
However, the online claiming service still isn't available yet.
Gov.uk says: "We expect it to be available by the end of April 2020."
This means the earliest furloughed workers will be paid is the end of April.