Charities and Covid-19 Why Charity begins at home and Covid -19

In these articles, i write in plain english and hope these updates are helpful.

They are are not legal advice but rather an explanation of the law and the announcements as a way to help and assist small businesses and employees at this difficult time.

So tomights announcement was about help for Charities sector. This update is correct as of tonight – 8 April 2020 In Todays announcement the 8th April 2020, the chancellor announced a ￡750m package for UK charities, which is wonderful news for the social fabric of our society. I am so pleased that finally the charities which we support both individually and a will continue to be supported in these uncertain times.

Since my last ypdate the PM Boris Johnson has been admitted in to Intensive Care. That has shocked the nation. I send my best wishes.

My family have had experienced of this and it brins back memories but I will forever be grateful for our NHS and the work of doctors, nurses, porters and all the unsung heroes. I hope after this and aside from clapping after this, the government invests in the NHS properly.

Anyway here are some useful updates for people to digest.

The portal at which employers can apply for the reimbursement is expected to go live on 20 April 2020, with payments beginning on 30 April 2020. It is expected that payments will be made within 4-6 working days of HMRC receiving a claim. They also stated that the portal will be open on a 24/7 basis and in the event that the portal is facing extremely high traffic, which is to be expected, online users will be placed within a queue.

In practice given the horror stories about those claiming universal credit, we will have to wait and see. For many they simply cannot afford to wait. I worry about the finacial and mental health of these families.

• HMRC has confirmed that they will prosecute employers who abuse the system and has encouraged employees to inform HMRC where this is taking place, to avoid being complicit. We believe that examples of abusing the system would be most prominently, still requiring employees to work whilst furloughed. Where an employee raises this as an issue it may amount to whistleblowing so employers really need to be careful and ensure they comply with the rules on this generous scheme.
• Annual leave and furlough:
• o   Employees can take annual leave whilst furloughed, they are not mutually exclusive statuses.
•   If employees take annual leave whilst furloughed, they must be paid in full for this leave (at 100%), even when they have been placed on furlough at 80%, where this annual leave is part of their first 4 weeks of entitlement. Employers can still claim the 80% furlough back from HMRC. In reality this means, with the bank holiday coming up furloughed staff must be paid at 100% for both Good Friday and Bank Holiday Monday.
• Check your contract of employment because Some contracts may permit the employer to request that they do not take this holiday and instead have a day in lieu, but this would require the employees’ agreement as it would be at such short notice and would also obviously increase their holiday entitlement further down the line.
•  Employers can require your employees to use some annual leave (especially where pre-booked) during furlough if you wish, and they would then be paid at 100%. I am concerned that forcing employees to use annual leave at this time of uncertainty might diminish what the employee has to look forward to in the future and they can’t actually go anywhere at the moment so may want to use the annual leave in the future.
• Good employers should maximise on the loyalty of their employees. This is harder of course for smaller struggling businesses.
• Directors
• Finally as a Director what does the whole position mean for directors being furloughed? in the main it appears as though Directors can be furloughed but only if they aren’t doing any work apart from statutory duties (which is very limited, and includes filing annual returns, board meetings etc). They cannot do anything which would generate revenue for the company and this, in my view may would include networking, or business development and responding to emails, conducting training or activities on social media to raise the company’s profile. 

Thank you for all the DMS about these articles. You can read more on my blog. These articles are NOT legal advice. If you require legal advice seek it. You can also contact women in the law UK for their endorsed list of Panel of lawyers they can refer you to.Until Next time. congratulations to Sir Kier Starmer, former Barrister and DPP who has become leader of the opposition party the Labour Party. Wishing the PM a speedy recovery and asking you to stay safe over easter. Please Don't forget you can join our webinars lunch and learns. and stay connected in other ways and listen to my podcast and also read my book Talking Law by Sally Penni now available on amazon. www.womeninthelawuk.com

Take care and Stay safe.

Sally