June 2020 - Corinthian

We hope that as always you, your family and colleagues remain safe and well.

We have pleasure in attaching our Corinthian Benefits June 2020 newsletter, which will give you some insight into what we have been doing for our clients over the past few months, how the markets have been behaving during lockdown and also to introduce you to our new social media channels.

Please do take 5 minutes from your busy schedule to have a read and some ‘Time to Think’, you will also find some useful links for your employees in these unprecedented times.

If you would like to chat to us about anything, please remember we are here to help, so do give us a call.

Corinthian Benefits June 2020 Newsletter

The key role played by the group risk industry in keeping the economy going was recently acknowledged in the House of Lords. The important influence the industry plays in keeping healthy, productive and wealthy was highlighted during a debate on the economic lessons of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“This is a long-term challenge” Lord Hunt of Wirral commented “brought into sharp, short term relief. I strongly commend to my noble friend the Minister the initiatives from GRiD, the Group Risk Development organisation, set up by the insurance sector to address these challenges.”

“Of course, free enterprise will have to be the principal driver of recovery, but it is none the less incumbent on all one-nation Conservatives to ensure that for a stronger economy and a stronger society in the post-pandemic world.”

Group Risk Development (GRiD) is the industry body for the group risk protection sector, promoting the value to British businesses of providing financial protection for their staff, enhancing their wellbeing and engagement.

“We’re really pleased that GRiD has been directly recognised as having an important part to play in the longer-term challenges facing employers in the recovery from the pandemic” commented GRiD spokesperson Katherine Moxham.

“This is about much more than the physical adaptations employers will need to make to places of work to ensure employees can return safely, it’s also about the changes they will need to make to improve ways of managing sickness and absence, and this is something the group risk industry is very experienced in.”

As Britain emerges from total lockdown, all employers will have to adapt, and not only through social distancing. The Corinthian team are fully prepared to help your business and employees back to work. If you would like to discuss the range of solutions available please get in touch at [email protected]

The last few months may have felt like a relentless bombardment of information regarding the deadlines, requirements and availability of the various coronavirus support schemes – and it’s not over yet!

The latest announcement from the Government involves adaptations to the employee furlough scheme. With the clarification that employees can return from the furlough scheme on a part-time basis from 1st July 2020. This is earlier than previously predicted and means that employers can start to get business moving again.

The key points of the part time scheme are:

The hours undertaken by the employee will be paid by the employer
The government will continue to contribute 80% of the wages for the hours they do not work (up to £2,500, as well as ER NICs and pension contributions)
Arrangements must cover the MINIMUM of a 1week period
You will be expected to submit details of how many hours an employee would be expected to work in a claim period and how many were actually worked
If employees are still unable to work, they can remain on furlough and you can continue to claim the full 80%

The scheme will change again as the government element is slowly tapered:

August the government will continue to contribute 80% of the wages up to £2,500 for hours the employee doesn’t work but employers will pay ER NICs and pension contributions

September the government will contribute 70% of the wages up to £2,187.50 for hours the employee doesn’t work but employers will pay ER NICs, pension contributions and 10% of wages to make up to 80% (up to £2,500)

October the government will contribute 60% of the wages up to £1,875 for hours the employee doesn’t work but employers will pay ER NICs, pension contributions and 20% of wages to make up to 80% (up to £2,500)

(The cap on the furlough grant will be proportional to the hours not worked).

NIC bills vary due to employee size, smaller employers should not be significantly impacted by the tapering.

IMPORTANT DATES:

The final date you can furlough an employee for the first time will be 10th June

The furlough scheme will close to new applicants from 30th June. From this point onwards ONLY employees previously furloughed for a full three-week period prior to 30th June will be eligible.