Flexible furlough - where next for the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme?

On 29 May 2020 the Chancellor announced details of how the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) will be modified in ‘Phase Two’ of the scheme. The key changes are that:

• employers can bring furloughed employees back to work part time in July;
• employers must contribute progressively more to the employment costs of furloughed employees from August;
• the CJRS will close to new entrants at the end of June, and will end entirely at the end of October; and
• employers have until 10 June 2020 to furlough any additional employees.

Employers now need to consider whether and how to use the CJRS through Phase Two. Employers will also need to start thinking about their workforce requirements, and arrangements for bringing their employees off furlough following the closure of the CJRS at the end of October 2020.