Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the extent to which workers in the creative industries on short-term contracts qualify for payments under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme; and if he will make a statement.

Employees on fixed-term contracts, regardless of industry, can be claimed for under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme if otherwise eligible.

From 1 July an employee is eligible to be claimed for under the scheme, if their employer has previously submitted a claim for them in relation to a furlough period of at least three consecutive weeks taking place any time between 1 March 2020 and 30 June.

For an employee on a fixed term contract, the employer would have been able to re-employ them and put them on furlough as long as they did this by 10 June, and if either the employee’s contract expired on or after 28 February 2020 and an RTI payment submission for the employee was notified to HMRC on or before 28 February 2020, or the employee’s contract expired on or after 19 March 2020 and an RTI payment submission for the employee was notified to HMRC on or before 19 March 2020.

If the employee’s fixed term contract has not already expired, it can be extended, or renewed. Employers can claim for these employees as long as an RTI payment submission for the employee was notified to HMRC on or before 19 March 2020.

Employees that started and ended the same contract between 28 February 2020 and 19 March 2020 will not qualify for this scheme. This is not specific to employees on fixed-term contracts; the same would apply to employees on all other contracts.