How to calculate part-time furlough pay
FURLOUGHED workers can return part-time from today.
It is up to employers to decide how many hours staff will work – and employees should be paid full wages for this time.
The Government will continue to pay 80 per cent – up to £2,500 – of the portion of wages for the contracted hours they are unable to work.
Employers will still have the option to top up the furlough pay to 100 per cent but it’s not a legal requirement and they don’t have to.
If you’re a furloughed worker who is returning part-time this means that your wage may change.
If your wages aren’t being topped up by your employer then it’s tricky to work out.
We spoke to ex-HMRC inspector Kevin Humphreys, from , to explain how to work out your take home pay if you’ve been furloughed part-time.
To work it out, you’ll need to know how many days and hours you would be working if you were on your normal contracted hours, how many days and hours you’ll be working at full pay during the pay period, how many days and hours you’ll be furloughed for.
For our example, we’re assumed that you normally take home £2,000 per month, working an 8-hour day, five days a week.
While you’ve been on furlough, you’ve received £1,600 a month – 80 per cent of your normally salary.
Let’s say your employer has asked you back for two days a week – every Tuesday and Thursday – through July.
The number of working days can differ depending on the month but in July it’s 23 – you’ll work nine days at full pay and be furloughed for 14 days.
Can I be made redundant if I'm on furlough?
EVEN though furlough is designed to keep workers employed, unfortunately it doesn't protect you from being made redundant.
But it doesn’t affect your redundancy pay rights if you are let go from your job amid the coronavirus crisis.
Your employer should still carry out a fair redundancy process.
You will be entitled to be consulted on the redundancy lay-off first and to receive a statutory redundancy payment, as long as you’ve been working somewhere for at least two years.
How much you’re entitled to depends on your age and length of service, although this is capped at 20 years. You’ll get:
- Half a week’s pay for each full year you were under 22,
- One week’s pay for each full year you were 22 or older, but under 41,
- One and half week’s pay for each full year you were 41 or older.
Sadly, you won’t be entitled to a payout if you’ve been working for your employer for fewer than two years.
There should be a period of collective consultation as well as time for individual ones if your employer wants to make 20 or more employees redundant within 90 days or each other.
You are also entitled to appeal the decision by claiming unfair dismissal within three months of being let go.
If you’re made redundant after your company has gone into administration you can claim redundancy pay .
To work out how many hours that is, multiply the number of days by 8 (the number of hours you work in a day).
The total hours that you could work if you were full time is 184 (23 days x 8 hours), the total number of hours you’re furloughed for is 112 (14 days x 8 hours), and the total number of hours you’ll be working for is 72 (14 days x 8 hours).
To work out the furlough pay, you’ll need to divide the number of furloughed hours by the total number of hours you’re contracted to work, multiplied by your total monthly pay, multiplied by 80 per cent.
In this example, the maths would be: 112 hours ÷ 184 total contracted hours x £2,000 normal monthly salary x 0.8 = £973.91.
You need to do the same thing but with the number of hours your work to calculate how much you’ll be paid in full.
In this case it’s: 72 hours ÷ 184 total contracted hours x £2,000 total monthly salary = £782.60.
You’ll then need to add the answers together to get your total pay – in this case it’s £1,756.51.
Going back two days a week in July will see your furlough pay increased by £156.51 a month.
Remember, how much you’ll take home depends on the days that you work and what month it is so you’ll need to run the calculation again with the updated figure to work out August’s pay.
If you’re an employer, you can use the which will tell you how much you can claim for each member of furloughed staff.
Workers who aren’t able to go back to work part-time and will continue to receive 80 per cent of their full salary can use for free to find out their take home pay.
You can see how the by reading our guide.