Council and Democracy

Issue - meetings

Consideration of the use of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme

Meeting: 09/06/2020 - Joint Cabinet and Employment & General Committee (Item 44)

44 Consideration of the use of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme pdf icon PDF 92 KB

Decision:

*RESOLVED –

 

1.   That the submission of claims to the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme to furlough staff, who have been unable to carry out their roles for the council, where the funding for their posts has been largely generated through third party income through sales, fees and charges and where there has been a significant reduction in the associated revenue streams, be approved.

 

2.   That furloughed staff will continue to receive 100% of their wages and will see no changes to their pension contributions.

 

3.   That it be noted that, for the council to furlough staff, the individual staff member must voluntarily agree to be furloughed as it constitutes a temporary contract variation.

 

4.   That the Executive Director, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Governance and in conjunction with the Human Resources & Support Services Manager, be granted delegated authority to take forward claims to the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme for the period June-October 2020 in line with the latest Government guidelines.

 

REASONS FOR DECISIONS

 

To enable the council to apply for the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme to furlough appropriate staff and receive a grant towards the costs. This will help to alleviate the significant financial pressures that the council is facing in responding to the coronavirus outbreak and minimise the long-term risk of having to consider staff redundancies.

Minutes:

The Executive Director submitted a report seeking approval for the use of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS).

 

The outbreak of coronavirus had created an unprecedented situation across the world with an immeasurable impact on individuals, communities and businesses. Local authorities had received a range of support and additional grant funding, but this had not covered the direct costs of supporting local efforts to respond to the coronavirus pandemic or lost income from the enforced closure of council facilities and services. As a result, it was recommended that all opportunities to improve the council’s financial position should be taken.

 

The CJRS was first introduced in March 2020 in response to the COVID-19 outbreak and the national lockdown that was initiated on 23rd March 2020.

 

The Government recognised that there might be a limited number of cases in which it was appropriate for local authorities to furlough workers and claim funding through the CJRS. This would be in exceptional cases where staff salaries would have been largely funded by sales, fees and charges, where there had been a significant reduction in these revenue streams which had not already been offset by additional grant funding from central government, where it would not be possible to redeploy the staff and where the alternative would be redundancy.

 

The council would top up the sums received through the CJRS so that all furloughed staff would continue to be paid their wages in full.

 

HR business partners and service managers had carried out a significant amount of detailed analysis to identify services and staff to which the CJRS would apply. It was proposed that the initial claim be backdated to 1 April 2020 through 31 May 2020.

 

*RESOLVED –

 

1.    That the submission of claims to the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme to furlough staff, who have been unable to carry out their roles for the council, where the funding for their posts has been largely generated through third party income through sales, fees and charges and where there has been a significant reduction in the associated revenue streams, be approved.

 

2.    That furloughed staff will continue to receive 100% of their wages and will see no changes to their pension contributions.

 

3.    That it be noted that, for the council to furlough staff, the individual staff member must voluntarily agree to be furloughed as it constitutes a temporary contract variation.

 

4.    That the Executive Director, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Governance and in conjunction with the Human Resources & Support Services Manager, be granted delegated authority to take forward claims to the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme for the period June-October 2020 in line with the latest Government guidelines.

 

REASONS FOR DECISIONS

 

To enable the council to apply for the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme to furlough appropriate staff and receive a grant towards the costs of their salaries and pension contributions. This would help to alleviate the significant financial pressures that the council is facing in responding to the coronavirus outbreak and minimise the long-term risk  ...  view the full minutes text for item 44