Originally written by Jill Bottomley on Small Business
It has been widely reported that many businesses expect to make redundancies at the end of April, when the furlough scheme comes to a close.
However, many smaller businesses may be unaware that the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme rules were changed in December. The furlough grant can no longer contribute towards notice pay.
This is going to prove a major challenge for some small businesses which are already hanging on by their fingernails to their prospects of surviving this crisis.
Particularly where the employees facing redundancy have long service – this is likely, as they are the most experienced and will have been the most expensive to make redundant last year and remain on furlough – the coming costs could well push businesses under.
Unprepared small businesses looking at the prospects of redundancies over coming weeks and months may be in one of two highly problematic scenarios.
Scenario one – you’re unaware of your staff’s right to notice and redundancy pay
The employer has staff on furlough where redundancies will likely need to be made but he or she is unaware of their rights to notice and redundancy pay and how these are calculated.
A myth tends to circulate that