Helpful advice for SME impacted by the #coronavirus at this week’s meeting from Stuart Wright a Partner at the accountancy firm Barnbrook Sinclair
In response to questions over coronavirus employment plan, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has clarified the situation regarding directors or business office holders
- They can be *furloughed but the same rules already set out in the job retention plan will apply for them – even for sole director companies.
- They must not do any work of a kind they would carry out in normal circumstances to generate commercial revenue or provide services to or on behalf of their company
- Fiduciary duties – their financial obligations – can continue, provided they do no more than would reasonably be judged necessary for that purposes
Stuart warned that this remains likely to be impractical for most sole director companies but matters need to be reviewed and considered on a case by case basis.
* Oh and what on earth does furlough mean?: Government guidance says it refers to someone who remains employed but who is not undertaking work. It’s a term that has not a recognised term in UK employment law, although it is commonly used in the US, and was introduced into our lexicon by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak, in his coronavirus job retention plan.