Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme update

The government has confirmed a number of important of announcements regarding the eligibility requirements for using the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme and the opening of the online portal for applications. The date on which employees can be placed on...

What is overtrading?

Once the present lock-down is eased, those businesses that have manged to weather the disruption will be eager to start selling. Sales will be the indicator that receives the most attention; sole-traders, partners and directors will be out of their starting blocks to...

Cost v investment?

There is a temptation to treat expenditure as a cost. The Cambridge Online dictionary defines cost as: “The amount of money needed to buy, do, or make something” What this definition does not do is to expose the difference between a cost that deals with a...

Employees that can be furloughed

As we have written about previously, the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) provides significant government support to allow employers to furlough employees and apply for a grant that covers 80% of their usual monthly wage costs, up to £2,500 a month...

National Minimum Wage and training time

An interesting quirk of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme is that furloughed workers are not entitled to the minimum wage. HMRC's guidance categorically states that 'individuals are only entitled to the National Living Wage (NLW)/National Minimum Wage...