National minimum wage workers and 80% pay

[pawsies]

Does anyone know much about this?

If nmw workers are expected to take home 80% pay then that would bring them under the nmw.

Is that legal? I appreciate having a job still, just trying to muddle through the logistics

Nmagain if your business is still open then it doesn't understand how this works!! They are banking on getting it repaid but they may not qualify!

Are they a pub or restaurant chain?

A quick calculation in MSEs income calculator shows that someone working full time on minimum wage of £8.21 an hour takes home £277. If they get paid 20% less, they should take home £235, which is probably better than being on benefits.

The business doesn’t need to close.

yabu
at least they are getting something, unlike the self employed.

Sorry I think you have reacted in the wrong way, it’s a time of crisis, would you not count your blessings that you will get 80%

tonyaster

No, warehouse/distribution

My DH has been told by his employer that they may need to lay some staff off (although they are currently working overtime as they make things for hospitals) and those staff will get 80% of their wage.

Ok no businesses know if they qualify. Our consultant has told us the money is a last resort if the company can prove it cannot afford to pay full wages.

@nmagain

Companies cannot apply yet so cannot be sure if they will be eligible for the grant, however one thing the government have been crystal clear on is that companies cannot claim the grant for employees who are still doing work.

Taken directly from the government guidelines:

To qualify for this scheme, you should not undertake work for them while you are furloughed.

This was taken from here: www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-to-employers-and-businesses-about-covid-19/covid-19-guidance-for-employees#furloughed-workers

If you are still actively working your employer will have to pay you your full wage for the hours worked. They may access one of the other government loan schemes to help with cash flow but cannot access the furloughed staff grants for employees still actively working.

@nmagain - sorry I just realised you referred to others in your company getting the 80% not you as you are still working, my mistake.

I wanted to make sure your company wasn't trying to only pay to u 80% while you were working!

The employees aren’t working. They’ve been told not to come in. I will be but I’m getting a proper wage.

The business should qualify. Orders are way down and they can only afford a skeleton crew they said to keep it afloat. I’m part of the skeleton crew

I was wondering this. Would it be preferable for people to be on uc as they have increased that slightly? Although I assume anyone on NMW does claim at least one element of UC anyway as we all know NMW isn’t a living wage.

Self employed ( so , not actually getting anything from the govt at the moment ) my employees will get 80% of their salary for staying at home
As my business ( restaurant ) is closed , with no money coming in , I can’t afford to pay them anything extra , and I will wait to see how this 80% works
Payday is Friday this week , and that’s covered , we have until the end of April for the next payday , hopefully this is enough time

I'm a key worker so this probably doesn't apply, but I've been thinking about it...

My contract is 16 hours. So my base pay is very very low. But I work over these hours most weeks - at the moment we're doing 35-40 hours. But, if we HAD to close and I got 80%, it would be 80% of my 16 hour contracted pay, wouldn't it? And I'd have to apply for UC to make up my money?

I'm interested in this.

Before the Govt announcement, DD's employer (hotel) said everyone was going to need to be on 70% wages because customers were so low. This took her below NMW. I'm hoping they will have had to reconsider this and pay full for the hours she worked, prior to it closing, and continue paying 80%.

Although I assume anyone on NMW does claim at least one element of UC anyway as we all know NMW isn’t a living wage.

Nope, most people don't qualify for UC if they don't have children.

Nobody knows yet Zaphod, there's just not enough detail yet

I don’t qualify for UC and I’m on minimum wage

Quite some number of non british workers don't qualify. Don't you have to pass HRT? Plus a lot of non eu have no recourse to public funds.

Thanks Statistically. Just wondering.

And I don't qualify for UC either. No kids at home, no dependants apart from the dog. The attitude to very low earnings is 'go and get a better job then.' I do this one because it's local and the hours suit because I can fit it around my self employed job.

I may well be financially buggered.

You cant get the 80 percent if you have large cash reserves

Where did It say this? I have a large inheritance in savings but that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t get my pay

@BubblyBarbara any cash reserves limits will relate to those of the employer not the employee.

This is an employer grant not an employee grant, so it is the company that has to meet the requirements.

The employer gets this grant, it has nothing to do with the employee. Although you wouldn't know that by the amount of employees who think they just have to ask for it!