Recruiters can be paid for furloughed public sector contractors

Commenting on further guidance from the Government on the Job Retention Scheme released over the weekend, Tanis Bowers, Legal Counsel and Head of Public Affairs at The Association of Professional Staffing Companies (APSCo) said:

“This new guidance brings further clarity on some of the questions we have been asked by members particularly with regard to public sector contractor assignments. The new guidance states that the public sector is not expected to furlough staff if they pay for staff out of Government funding, and Cabinet Office guidance should be followed for contingent workers (contractors) which states that they should continue to pay 80% of rate and fees to recruiters which is obviously good news. Other points that the guidance clarified were:”

• “Furloughed workers can work for a third party whilst on furlough (but not the recruiter's clients in the case of an agency worker)
• Furloughed workers can complete training without additional pay, as long as their furlough pay per hour is at least National Living Wage otherwise training hours must be topped up
• "Compulsory commission" can be included in the furlough salary calculation, unlike discretionary commission
• People can be furloughed more than once as long as each furlough period is at least three weeks
• Apprenticeship Levy payments and Student Loan payments should still be made and neither are covered by the grant”

- Ends

Tracey Barrett
BlueSky PR
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