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Throughout the summer the Chancellor Rishi Sunak resolutely maintained the position that furlough leave would not be extended beyond the end of October. But following months of pressure from employers’ groups and trade unions he relented in September and announced a new Job Support Scheme to take effect from 1 November.

At the time of writing full detail is still awaited and we have only a short Government fact sheet from which we can glean information about the new JSS. Debate has been engendered by references both in press releases and the fact sheet to “viable” jobs. How will viability be measured?

We have many clients in the aviation sector which of course are amongst the hardest hit. There is every intention to resume supplementary airport services such as passenger lounges, but probably not for many months. In the meantime, are the jobs of airline lounge staff “viable”? Many other employers are asking similar questions. And is viability to be formally assessed prior to employees becoming eligible for payments through the scheme?

Linked to the question of viability is a requirement that employees on the JSS must be working least 33% of their normal working hours. Many employers fear that they are not yet in a position to return employees to the workplace to that extent. Redundancies may be the outcome in many such situations, but employers do have a range of options. We have been considering the employment landscape post furlough and will be running a webinar on the subject on Wednesday 14 October at 11 AM.

For further detail about the webinar and instructions on how to book a place and pay online can be found by clicking here https://www.sherrardslaw.com/services/seminars-and-workshops-booking/