Job Support Scheme and Site Operating Procedure Update

As the Government’s Furlough scheme comes to an end this month, the Government is introducing the Job Support Scheme to support individuals and businesses.

The Job Support Scheme, for businesses which remain open (face reduced demand) and for those who are required to close, will be open from 1 November 2020 and run for 6 months, until 30 April 2021.

Many employers can operate safely but continue to face reduced demand so they may need extra support over the winter to help keep their employees attached to their workforce. For these employers, the Job Support Scheme, through ‘JSS Open’, will give employers the option of keeping their employees in a job on shorter hours rather than making them redundant.

The employee will need to work a minimum of 20% of their usual hours and the employer will continue to pay them as normal for the hours worked. Alongside this, the employee will receive 66.67% of their normal pay for the hours not worked - this will be made up of contributions from the employer and from the Government.

Further guidance on the steps that employers need to take to calculate and make a claim to the Job Support Scheme will be published by the end of October. The Government will review the terms of the scheme in January.

Current information on the Job Support Scheme is available on the Government website.

Also, the latest version of the Site Operating Procedures (V6) is now available. This document is intended to introduce consistent measures on construction sites of all types and sizes in line with the Government’s guidelines. Version 6 is available on the CLC website.