The Government has widened to scope of the circumstances when an employee may be put on furlough leave.
To recap, before 4 April the furlough leave was an option as an alternative to lay-offs or redundancy and for those employees who could not work because of social shielding in line with the public health guidance.
The updated Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme guide added two more categories:
- Employees who need to stay home with someone who is shielding, if these employees are unable to work from home and ‘you would otherwise have to make them redundant’.
- Employees who are unable to work because they have caring responsibilities resulting from coronavirus. The reason of childcare responsibilities is specifically mentioned.
This addition, specifically of employees who cannot work because their children need to be looked after, can only be seen as a positive development and will be helpful to many employers.

On average 55 vulnerabilities are identified daily.
What can I do?
Review your organisations priorities and ask ‘can we afford a breach?’. What do I do during an incident? Who do I involve? When do I involve the ICO?
If you’re unable to answers these questions, you need help from the experts.
