What The Furlough Scheme Ending Will Mean For Tribunal Claims

It is fair to say that the COVID-19 pandemic has been incredibly difficult financially for both businesses and their employees. The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, also commonly referred to as the furlough scheme, has been incredibly beneficial, helping to ensure that businesses have been able to pay their employees a wage, even if they are not currently operating as they usually would. 

Throughout the past year, this scheme has been extended multiple times and the current end date is the 30th September 2021. With the roadmap out of lockdown being successful so far and the country starting to return to some sort of ‘pre-pandemic normality’, it is predicted that there will not be another extension and this scheme will end in September as planned. 

Whilst this is good news in some respect as it means that businesses should be making enough profit again enabling them to pay their employees themselves, it has caused concern. As the furlough scheme ends and financial support is taken away from businesses, many experts are expecting a rise in Employment Tribunal claims. If you are intrigued to find out more in this regard, below we have looked into what the end of the furlough scheme means for businesses and employees, and in turn, tribunal claims.

How will the furlough scheme ending affect businesses? 

Without the financial assistance provided by the Government, lots of businesses would not have made it through the pandemic and schemes like the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme have been a lifeline for many over the last year. 

It is thought that when the furlough scheme ends, many businesses will be forced to make people redundant as they simply will not be able to afford to pay for all of their employees’ wages independently. Even if businesses have managed to put off these redundancies for several months, with the furlough scheme ending, they will not have any other choice. 

What will this mean for Employment Tribunal claims?

The expected increase in redundancies is predicted to cause an increase in redundancy payment claims and unfair dismissal claims being taken to the Employment Tribunal. As businesses downsize, restructure or even close down for good, the way that they choose who to make redundant and the process that they follow when making redundancies is predicted to cause problems. 

There are multiple different scenarios where redundancy is in fact an unfair dismissal and ex-employees have every right to make a claim to the Employment Tribunal if this is the case. It is always important for business owners to follow a fair redundancy process, but during this time they will need to ensure that they are dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s, so to speak, when making tough decisions regarding their employees’ job status. 

Due to the fact that a claim for a statutory redundancy payment should be made within six months less one day from the last day of employment and a claim for unfair dismissal or discrimination should be made within three months less one day, it is also anticipated that there will be an influx of claims all within the space of a few months. 

As you may expect, this will likely result in a huge backlog of claims that take much longer for the Employment Tribunal to make their way through. People who decide to go ahead and take a claim to the tribunal should be aware that they will probably be waiting longer than usual to get a hearing for their case. How long you have to wait can be different depending on where you live, but how busy the Employment Tribunal is will always influence the waiting time. 

Speaking to an employment law specialist about a potential claim 

All in all, it is fair to say that the furlough scheme ending is predicted to have a huge impact on lots of people’s lives and unfortunately, there is not much that employees can do to prepare for this time. In the next few months, if you do find yourself in a situation where you have been made redundant or you have been threatened with redundancy and you would like to get some tailored employment law advice, please feel free to get in touch with us here at Nationwide Employment Lawyers.

With many years of experience behind us assisting employees with a vast range of employment issues, you can trust that we are the best people to turn to for advice. Our team of employment law solicitors, employment law barristers and senior employment law advocates will gladly help in any way that they are able to and they all have expertise in unfair dismissal claims. Employment is an incredibly complex area of law, so if you are ever unsure of your legal rights, do not hesitate to turn to an employment law specialist.