We at ESPHR, along with all UK employers and employment lawyers, eagerly anticipate and await further guidance from the government on the Job Support Scheme (JSS) and what employers must do in order to take advantage of the scheme. What we do know so far is set out in our Q&A which can be found here.

Once detailed guidance is published, employers wishing to utilise the scheme will need to write to their employees to request that they agree to the short-time working arrangements under the JSS. The JSS opens on 1 November 2020 so time is running short and the detailed guidance is expected imminently.

In the meantime, we would recommend that employers begin consulting with their employees and workers (or if collective consultation is being undertaken, consulting with the appropriate representatives) regarding the JSS. It would be prudent to let them know that you intend to utilise the JSS, and that employees will have to agree to short-time working arrangements of at least 33% of their normal working hours in order to be eligible under the scheme.

Employers can make clear to their staff that they are awaiting further detailed guidance from the government on how the working arrangements must operate and, once that information is available, employees will be required to sign a written agreement under which they will agree to the specific short-time working arrangements and the implications for their pay that will result.

We have created a new ‘Job Support Scheme Consultation Letter – SL93’ that our customers may wish to utilise for this purpose. The letter template can be downloaded from the Policies, Documents and Guidance Notes section of the Customer Zone. It is stored in the ‘Contracts and Service Agreements’ topic under ‘Letters and Forms’.

We will update you as soon as detailed guidance is received and will also prepare a further template letter for our customers to use to obtain employee agreement to the contractual changes.