S4labour, the online labour-scheduling management system from Catton Hospitality, has warned the change in criteria for employee eligibility on furlough pay means some staff may now miss out. The government has extended the cut-off to 19 March 2020. But S4labour chief product officer Richard Hartley told Propel the criteria has also changed. He said: “For an employee to be eligible they have to be part of a real time information submission notifying payment on or before 19 March.

For many that pay staff on a weekly and fortnightly basis this will be good news as it will mean many more employees will now be eligible. For those on a monthly or four-weekly payroll this could mean some employees we previously thought were eligible are now not as some starters towards the end of February will not have been part of a full pay submission.

There will be more that benefit than will lose out but the headline statement is misleading for employees and they should be contacting their employer to check their situation. The announcement has also changed the reference pay for salaried staff from 28 February to the last pay period prior to 19 March. Therefore any pay changes post 28 February can now be taken into consideration.”

S4labour is a Propel BeatTheVirus campaign member