As a way of supporting businesses and employees throughout the UK during the unprecedented coronavirus pandemic, the government has unveiled the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS). You are now able to claim using this scheme, as the system went live on Monday 20th April.
According to the Office of National Statistics, less than 30% of the UK’s workforce have experienced working from home for themselves (data before the COVID-19 pandemic). However, as the threat of coronavirus has forced the government to implement a UK-wide lockdown, these figures have soared as millions of workers have been told they must work from home for the foreseeable future.
In a bid to seek definitive clarification from the government regarding furlough pay for agency workers (and those using umbrella companies), five of the UK’s leading professional bodies have come together. APSCo, FCSA, Professional Passport, REC and TEAM have all joined forces and have collectively written to the government asking for vital information that will impact over 1 million agency workers and umbrella company employees.
With so many umbrella companies to choose from, how do you know which one is best for your circumstances? A great way to start is to identify an umbrella company that is a member of the FCSA. To obtain FCSA membership, umbrella companies have to be able to prove they operate compliantly with HMRC rules, and regulations and this means you’ll be in the safest hands. After all, were you aware that if you use a non-compliant payroll provider, even by mistake, you could face severe penalties in the future?
On Saturday 4th April, the government released more information on the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS). Interestingly, the updated guidance specifically references “umbrella companies”. While this is positive, there are still plenty of unanswered questions and the FCSA has described the new information as “contradictory”.
To help support the UK’s workforce, the government has unveiled the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme. While the FCSA has welcomed this, there are still plenty of unanswered questions, including how it will be rolled out and who exactly can claim.
To help support the UK’s workforce, the government has unveiled the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme. While “the scheme is welcomed by the FCSA”, there is a lot of missing information and there is a genuine worry that agency workers could fall through the cracks.
As a member of the FSCA, Churchill Knight Umbrella can benefit from their expert advice and guidance – especially when it comes to uncharted territory like we are well and truly entering now as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. We appreciate the government’s efforts to support the self-employed, but a significant amount of information is still required in order to make sense of their new schemes.
On Tuesday 17th March, the government announced they were delaying the IR35 private sector reform from April 2020, to April 2021. Although this is good news for genuine contractors, it doesn’t necessarily mean much will change over the next 12 months. Here is what the delay to off-payroll in the private sector will mean for contractors and freelancers in the UK.
As a result of the deadly spread of COVID-19, Boris Johnson has said it is his responsibility to ensure parliament acts like a “wartime government“ and does what is necessary to beat coronavirus, while supporting everyone who will inevitably be impacted by it. The pandemic has already had a significant impact on employers and employees in the UK – resulting in the loss of jobs and severe financial insecurity. But until now, Rishi Sunak had been unclear in explaining his plans for helping the self-employed. However, more information has been made available this afternoon (Thursday 26th March 2020) and here is what we have learned.
