A summary of the latest government guidance for employers and employees.

Sick pay  

• It’s good practice to provide full pay to self-isolators, but not a legal requirement.  
• Employees self-isolating are entitled to £94.25 per week Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) for up to 28 weeks.  
• Employees can get an isolation note from NHS 111 online as evidence. 

Self-employed 

• Self-employed workers can claim a government grant worth up to 80% of your trading profits for three months.
• If you are self-employed or earn less than £118 per week then you may be able to claim Universal Credit or contributory employment and support allowance (ESA).  

Furlough 

• Furlough is granted to employers when there is no work for employees – usually it is unpaid.  
• Under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, the government will pay up to 80% of a furloughed employee’s wages up to a maximum of £2,500 per month. 

• This applies to employees whose places of work have closed due to coronavirus but have not been made redundant.  
• If employees are sent home or work from home then they receive full pay unless agreed otherwise. 
• Volunteers can also be furloughed. They cannot do any work for their organisation, although they can do work for another organisation.  

Childcare  

• Households where at least one parent or carer is a critical worker or where a child are considered vulnerable can send children to school during the outbreak.  
• If you’re not a critical worker and you don’t have anyone to look after your children then you may have to ask your employer if you can work from home.  
• If this isn’t possible, then you may need to consider emergency dependent leave, unpaid leave or annual leave – these options could impact pay and holiday entitlement. 
• Home educating will not give you any special dispensation regarding employment rights.  
• Children entitled to free school meals should continue to recieve them via arrangements with their school.    

Redundancy and lay-offs 

• Redundancies are handled as they would under normal circumstances. These should include: 
•  Employees can appeal any decision and written records of all steps should be maintained.  

Home working 

• Employees working from home should be assisted in conducting a health and safety and display screen equipment (DSE) assessment.