Furlough CJRS (Flexible) |
  
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Furlough CJRS (Flexible) |
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This release provides users with an optional tool to assist with calculating and paying furloughed pay to employees who have been placed on furlough under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme. This builds on the basis of the system that was made available in version 7.11 and now includes additional functionality regarding flexible return to work, calculating furlough payments based on regular pay and reducing the furlough pay percentage as and when this becomes necessary. We have also updated the format of the Furlough Reclaim Report to reflect changes to HMRC requirements effective from 1st July.
Please note: This is an optional tool for those who wish to use it, as with all aspects of CleanLink, it is your responsibility to ensure data being used and submitted is accurate. This Guidance Document has been produced to assist users with the process, we strongly recommend following this guidance.
1. Set up Furlough Parameters if not already done – choose Furlough Pay Item, Furlough Site and Status Code (See help on Furlough Parameters)
2. Select which employees are on Furlough with start and end dates and which remain as normal working staff (See help on Setting Up Furlough Staff). Set employees to “Use Regular Pay” or “Flexible Furlough” as necessary. Amend the Furlough Calculation percentage if necessary.
3. Check Average Pay Figures (See help on Eligible Pay) and amend if necessary using “Override Pay Amount” and “Override Pay Hours” fields.
4. Open Pay Cycle as normal.
5. Make amendments/import data for NON Furlough and Flexible Furlough employees only.
6. Calculate Pay Cycle for 1st time – Furlough employees not marked as Flexible Furlough will have Regular Pay removed and replaced with Furlough Pay only. NON Furlough employees will calculate as normal. Flexible Furlough employees’ hours will not be removed and a Furlough amount will be calculated for these employees according to the hours they have not worked.
7. Reset Calculation and enter any additional pay for Furloughed employees (E.g. hours worked on Sites before/after furlough period, amend Furlough Pay amount if required, enter any top up pay).
8. Calculate Pay Cycle again – All employees will calculate as normal. Calculation can be reset if necessary to make further amendments,
9. Check reports thoroughly, produce Bacs, send payslips, submit FPS as normal. New ‘Furlough Reclaim’ report available either in pay cycle or as a consolidated version covering multiple cycles from the Reports tab – check details thoroughly before use.
In subsequent pay periods repeat steps 2 to 9 as necessary.
A major change in the Government’s CJRS Scheme is that, from 1st July, furloughed employees will be able to return to work for part of their normal hours whilst still being eligible for furlough payments regarding the hours they have not worked. To enable this within CleanLink Site Manager, we have introduced a “Flexible Furlough” setting within the Furloughed Staff screen which, if set, will adjust the Furlough payment for the selected employee based on how many hours they have worked compared to the hours they would otherwise be expected to work. This setting can either be applied to an individual or to a batch of employees using the new “Batch Updates” function. It can be used either with the furlough pay based on the historic “Eligible Pay” or the new “Use Regular Pay” option which is covered in the next section.
If you use imported data for your cycle we strongly recommend that these employees are marked as being on Flexible Furlough, if not then any hours imported before the first calculation will be removed. Please note that this setting is not limited by the date. It is up to you to ensure that no hours are entered for employees for days before 1st July 2020.
To mark an individual employee as being flexibly furloughed, go to Staff > J. Furloughed Staff and tick the box as shown below.
You can also mark the setting for multiple employees at one time using the “Batch Updates” button as shown below.
When you come to run a payroll cycle the hours worked by Flexible Furlough employees can be entered before the first calculation as the system will not remove these as it would for non-flexible employees. If the worked hours are amended and the cycle re-calculated, the furlough amount will be adjusted to reflect the changes.
Payroll Example:
Employee’s Eligible Pay is £976.99 for 119 hours at £8.21 per hour based on the relevant period from 2019/20. This gives a furlough payment of £781.59 for a full period at 80%.
Employee on Flexible Furlough works 28 hours at £8.72 earning £244.16. Their furlough payment is based on the remaining 91 hours at the previous year’s average rate (91 x 8.21 x 0.8) = £597.69.
Total Pay for period is 244.16 + 597.69 = £383.68
The “Flexible Furlough” option is also compatible with the “Use Regular Pay”, if this is selected the comparison would be with the employee’s current regular pay rather than the historic eligible pay.
Using Regular Pay to Calculate Furlough
If required, it is now possible to calculate the furlough amount to be paid to an employee using the details in the regular pay rather than the historic eligible pay for that person. As ever, it is your responsibility to ensure that these figures are a genuine representation of what the employee would expect to earn in a given period.
To mark an individual employee to use Regular Pay, go to Staff > J. Furloughed Staff and tick the box as shown below.
You can also mark the setting for multiple employees at one time using the “Batch Updates” button as shown below.
When the pay cycle is calculated, employees with the “Use Regular Pay” flag ticked will be paid the selected percentage of the amount they would have been paid in the selected cycle. This amount is subject to any Furlough End Date entered and the Flexible Furlough setting.
Overriding the Calculated Amount
In some cases, such as where employees have been TUPE’d over and no pay history exists within CleanLink Site Manager, you may need to enter an override amount rather than using Eligible Pay or Regular Pay. As with version 7.11, this can be done either through the Eligible Pay screen or directly in the relevant pay cycle. However, due to the new requirement to report “normal hours” on the Furlough Reclaim report, you will also need to enter a number of hours that the override figure represents. If you have entered override amounts in previous versions you will need to enter the number of hours before calculating any cycles in 7.11.2.
Important note: Any override amount and hours entered will be treated as the values for a full period of furlough. If the employee has a Furlough End Date or is marked as Flexible Furlough then the amount paid will be reduced accordingly.
To enter an override through Eligible Pay go to Staff > J. Furloughed Staff.
You will see the following warning. Click OK to proceed.
To enter an override figure from within the pay cycle go to either Site Summary > select Furlough Site > Select Employee or Pay By Staff > Select Employee > Select Furlough Site.
Important note: Any override amount and hours entered will be treated as the values for a full period of furlough. If the employee has a Furlough End Date or is marked as Flexible Furlough then the amount paid will be reduced accordingly.
From 1st July the required format of the Furlough Reclaim submission is changing to include the Normal Hours, Actual Hours and Furlough Hours in order to support employees being moved to Flexible Furlough. This file can be produced from CleanLink Site Manager, either via the pay cycle where I will only include staff from that specific pay period, or from Reports Tab > Payroll > Consolidated Furlough Reclaim where you can select to include multiple pay cycles and pay periods.
Report from the Pay Cycle
The printed report contains a breakdown of the different elements that make up the reclaim amount for each employee, these are not required on the submission file.
Printed:
CSV:
Consolidated Reclaim Report
Navigate to Reports > Payroll and select Consolidated Furlough Reclaim.
The consolidated report uses the same formats as from an individual period.
Batch Updates of Furloughed Dates
As well as the options described above, the Batch Updates function can also be used to amend the Furlough Start and End dates for multiple employees. This is particularly relevant for the End Date as if this is left blank the system will use the Scheme End Date as set in the Furlough Parameters (default of 31/10/2020).
To update the dates for a batch of employees go to Staff > J. Furloughed Staff > Batch Updates.
