Letter changing employment contract for furlough arrangements
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What's a letter proposing Covid-19 furlough arrangement changes to employment contract, and when do you need one?
Use this Covid-19 specific template letter when:
- you want to make a change to an employee’s contract to propose furloughing them under the government’s emergency Covid-19 job retention scheme, and
- ideally, you’ve spoken with the employee in advance to discuss the circumstances leading to your need to make this intended change with them, so that you can ensure they fully understand what is proposed and are willing to agree to it.
IMPORTANT: To benefit from the job retention scheme employees must have been on your PAYE payroll on 30 October 2020.
This letter is appropriate for employees based in England, Scotland and Wales.
It is strongly recommended that you take legal advice in preparing and sending this letter, and in planning for and managing employee expectations once this exceptional furlough period is complete.
If the employee is happy with the changes and signs the letter, you should keep this securely with the original employment contract.
If the employee refuses to agree to the furlough provisions, you may have no choice but to consider lay-offs or redundancy depending on the circumstances. However, either action must be in line with normal lay-off and/or redundancy rules and employee protections.