Law firm Royds Withy King is calling for urgent clarification that health and social care providers will be able to benefit from the government’s Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS).
The lawyers said there is “significant uncertainty” as to whether CJRS allows sector businesses in the care sector to designate workers as furloughed and recover 80% of their wages from the government.
Government guidance issued on 26 March states that where employers receive public funding for staff costs, and that funding is continuing, employers are expected to use that money to continue to pay staff in the usual fashion – and correspondingly not furlough them. That also applies to non-public sector employers who receive public funding for staff costs.
Royds Withy King social care head James Sage said the latest missive appears to contradict earlier guidance that all businesses and charities could participate in the scheme.
“The government’s position appears to be that providers who rely on purely private funding can use the scheme and those who are solely reliant on public funding cannot. It is unclear what the position would be for the many providers who have a mix of private and public funding,” he added.
The 26 March government guidance also states that in a small number of cases, for example where organisations are not primarily funded by the government and whose staff cannot be redeployed to assist with the coronavirus response, the scheme may be appropriate for some staff.
“This appears to require providers to make efforts to redeploy staff in the sector before being able to utilise the scheme, but no further detail of the requirements has been provided,” said Sage.
“We cannot see any reasonable justification for the disparity of treatment between privately and publicly funded providers. All organisations are facing unprecedented challenges and need flexibility and financial support to meet the changing requirements of their workforce.”
Sage said the coronavirus pandemic is changing the way the social care sector works.
“A care provider implementing full lockdown of a care home with a number of staff volunteering to live-in to support residents. This created a reduced requirement for other staff who could be furloughed,” he said.
“A care provider with reduced occupancy due to Covid-19 seeking to furlough care staff and office staff until occupancy and revenue increased,” he added.
Sage urged on the government to update its guidance to confirm that health and social care providers who receive public funding will not be excluded from the scheme.
