Hot Business News Today

New entrants to be stopped from joining the jobs furlough scheme

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Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
Rishi Sunak is to stop new applicants from joining the jobs furlough scheme, in a bid to continue winding the scheme down.
Part-time working from furloughed staff is expected to be allowed from August, following pressure from MPs and retail associations. The government has announced that non-essential shops can reopen from June 15.
However, according to the Financial Times, the chancellor wants to stop new applicants from joining the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) to stop them from going on furlough and immediately coming back off it to work part-time – leaving the Treasury to pick up the bill.
>See also: Government launches business Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme
Mr Sunak is expected to announce changes to the jobs furlough scheme including asking small businesses to cover 20 per cent of the cost of the CJRS, as well as allowing part-time furlough, by the end of this week.
Currently, 8m people are on furlough, roughly a quarter of the total jobs in Britain.
A quarter of company directors surveyed by the Institute of Directors say they won’t be able to afford to pay even the 20 per cent of the furlough scheme if asked – as well as having to

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Hot Business News Today

What are my legal responsibilities for homeworkers?

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Originally written by Chris Salmon on Small Business
An unprecedented number of employees are continuing to work remotely during the coronavirus pandemic. Small businesses new to managing remote staff are often unfamiliar with their legal health and safety responsibilities for homeworkers.
The migration to working from home (WFH) has presented many challenges for employers and employees. As companies have been forced to focus on business continuity, it is possible that remote workers’ health and safety will have been overlooked.
Legal responsibilities for homeworkers
Employers have the same legal duty of care for remote working employees.
The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 is the primary workplace safety legislation. The act makes no distinction between home and in-office workers.
The Management of Health and Safety Regulations 1999 specifically states that “employers are responsible for the health and safety of homeworkers, as far as is reasonably practicable”.
The regulations require employers to carry out a risk assessment of their employees’ workplace.
The assessment should identify any potential risks so the employer can then seek to remove or mitigate the risk.
According to the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA), the home is the most common location for an accident to happen.
Although most homeworkers will be working at home

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