Currently, employees cannot be furloughed if they were not employed past 30 October 2020, and even then a PAYE Real Time Information (RTI) submission must have been made to HMRC between 20 March 2020 and 30 October 2020, notifying a payment of earnings for that employee.
This is to change. For pay periods that start on or after 1 May 2021, employees who were employed on 2 March 2021 can be furloughed, provided the organisation has made a PAYE Real Time Information (RTI) submission to HMRC between 20 March 2020 and 2 March 2021, notifying a payment of earnings for that employee.
The shift in eligibility from 1 May 2021 onwards was confirmed in government guidance on 3 March 2021, presumably as a result of the extension of the Job Retention Scheme until the end of September 2021.
The knock-on impact of this is that organisations will be granted much more flexibility in furlough decisions in the future; they will be able to furlough those who were recruited between 31 October 2020 and 2 March 2021, meaning the s cope for furloughing staff is going to be wider.
Organisations will not have to have previously claimed for an employee before 2 March 2021 to claim for periods from starting on or after 1 May 2021.
