Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to ensure that organisations using the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme do not use funding from that scheme as part of an employee’s notice period.
The CJRS is designed to protect jobs and keep people in employment. In cases where terminations of employment or redundancies are unavoidable, employers must abide by the rules. This includes giving a notice period and consulting staff before a final decision is reached.
Employers may continue to claim under the scheme for a furloughed employee who is serving a statutory notice period subject to eligibility based on contract of employment.
However, in the present difficult times, the Government would not expect an employer to take advantage of the CJRS, which has brought benefit to employers and employees alike, in order to make someone redundant on less favourable terms than they would otherwise have received.