Furlough pay August onwards

[Furlough123]

I wasn't sure whether to put this in this topic or money related but hopefully someone with legal/HR/finance knowledge can help.

I am currently furloughed on £2,500 per month (before tax etc deductions).
This represents approximately 62% of my monthly salary.

I am aware that as of August my employer will have to contribute national insurance and pension (I think) - however, they are not in a position to do this. I work in sales and my being furloughed, and the industry we work in, means that there is very little incoming revenue.

My question is - how would this then work? Is this non-negotiable for the business (and therefore it's a case of either they contribute or my role is made redundant) or would the government still contribute the 70% but it wouldn't get topped up to the 80%? And how does this work in terms of the cap - obviously at the moment I don't get 80% as it's above the capped amount.

And then I suppose moving on from that - same question for September, October...

I'm just trying to work out my financial situation as I'm not even sure that they will be able to bring me back in November, so I'm considering staying employed by them but taking a sabbatical to return in January/February, but need to be sure that the money leading up to that is sufficient for me to be able to go for a couple of months without pay...

Please let me know if this needs any more clarity - I know what I mean, but I'm not sure how clear it is to others!

Thanks

Your salary will need to be topped up to 80% (the cap still applies so the £2500) by your company when the government contributions drop, so if they don’t want to do that or pay your NI then they will be forced to make redundancies. Your company will have the option from August to bring people back in part time, but needs to pay 100% for the days worked.

I'm expecting July to be my last pay tbh

I'm not sure that's the case, the 80% furlough is a cap not a guaranteed amount, I'd imagine each employer will be looking very carefully at whether they can afford to keep employees on furlough and at what level of pay.

You really need to be starting a discussion with your HR department

Hmmm that definitely complicates things then! Thank you for the information.

I suppose I have to make some decisions in that case!

Thank you.

@TerrapinStation Ah I posted before I'd read your response.

Sadly no HR department as it's a very small business - I deal with the COO who is asking questions of the legal company they use. I'm sure I'll get an idea from them soon enough but wondered if the mumsnet hive mind might be able to help in the meantime (as I'm not due to talk to them again for a few weeks).

It all just confuses me somewhat!!

I'm not an expert but did have to become somewhat of one on the original rules for a family member, he might be going back to work soon so I haven't had to look into the changes yet.

Getting legal advice is good too

It is expected that the company makes up the amount to 80%/cap, so all workers on furlough are guaranteed the 80% amount. This is from September however.

July - as normal furlough but companies can choose to bring back employees part time (and pay them 100% for those hours worked)

August - as July but company pays NI and pension contributions

September - as August but government pays 70% and company pays 10% (cap still applies)

October - government pays 60%, company pays 20% (cap still applies)

Halloween - scheme ends and no Government contributions.

I’m not an expert but had to look it all up for my DH company. Today was the last day companies could furlough people to be included in the scheme from July so there were some tough decisions to be made