13 May 2020

Coronavirus – being actively encouraged to go back to work

Following Sunday evening's Prime Ministerial address to the nation, the Government on Monday published a 50-page document about easing lockdown and accompanying FAQs.

Government Recovery Strategy Document: https://tinyurl.com/y74llsye

Government FAQ: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-outbreak-faqs-what-you-can-and-cant-do?

‘Our Plan to Rebuild: The UK Government's COVID-19 recovery strategy' sets out changes regarding public meetings, schools, workplaces and leisure. These will apply from Wednesday 13 May (Today) 

Our BPIF HR & Legal team have put together a document on questions we anticipate will be most commonly asked. We encourage our members to refer back to our dedicated CJRS guidance and continue to rely upon HR support for any questions that fall outside of what we have covered. The answers in the document have also been provided in conjunction with our comprehensive health & safety guidance which is also available on the dedicated COVID-19 area of the website. www.britishprint.com/coronavirus

H&S KEY UPDATES

The Government have produced 8 new guides covering a range of different types of work, to help ensure workplaces reduce risk of contamination, where possible.
Our BPIF H&S team are working through this and will be sharing more specific guidance, planning tools, specific risk controls etc. to support you to become COVID-Secure for your business, but for now please click below to read through the Government guides.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/working-safely-during-coronavirus-covid-19

CJRS SCHEME EXTENDED:
Yesterday (12th May 2020) the Government announced that the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) will be extended for four months until the end of October 2020 for all sectors. The level of support that furloughed employees will receive will remain the same during the extension, 80% of normal wages, up to a monthly maximum of £2,500.00

From August 2020 there will be more flexibility in the CJRS to support the transition back into work, with employers being able to bring employees back on a part-time basis whilst still being able to claim in part for wages under the CJRS. It is not clear what this will mean for levels of furlough pay, although it was indicated that employers will be asked to share the cost of the CJRS. The mechanics of how this work in practice has not yet been released, more guidance will be provided by the Government by the end of May 2020. Please click below link to full guidance. 

https://tinyurl.com/yawkxys5

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