Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme

(asked on 12th April 2021) - View Source

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department has taken steps to encourage employers to furlough employees who have been instructed to shield during the covid-19 outbreak rather than place those employees on Statutory Sick Pay.


Answered by
Jesse Norman Portrait
Jesse Norman
This question was answered on 15th April 2021

The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) has been available since the start of the pandemic, including for the duration of the Government’s most recent shielding advice, reintroduced from 4 January 2021. Shielding guidance is no longer in place, but Clinically Extremely Vulnerable (CEV) individuals can continue to be claimed for like everyone else, subject to the CJRS eligibility criteria.

It is not for the Government to decide whether an individual firm should put its staff on furlough; that is a decision for the employer, in consultation with the employee. CEV individuals should talk to their employer to discuss and agree options in relation to work, such as working from home, or returning to the workplace in a different role if their previous position cannot be fulfilled in a Covid-secure manner.

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