Additional guidance provided by the government on the UK’s Job Retention Scheme has delivered “further clarity” on the subject of public sector contractor assignments, according to the Association of Professional Staffing Companies (APSCo).

Commenting on the additional information, Tania Bowers, APSCo’s legal counsel and head of public affairs, said 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 (meaning contractors)”. The latter states that the public sector should continue to pay 80% of rate and fees to recruiters “which is obviously good news”, Bowers said.

Other points clarified in the updated guidance were:

• Furloughed workers can work for a third party while on furlough (but not the recruiter’s clients in the case of agency workers)
• 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
• 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.

See today’s commission story for additional information on the updated legislation.

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