COVID-19: Good news all round for the sales people in our industry!

So one tweet from Nona Bowkis in the chancellors’ Twitter #AskRishi question session on Friday and BOOM, the next day car dealers are able to pay their staff commission which was previously ruled out. 

So, what has been updated?
Firstly, the Government have clarified that furlough is designed to help employers and help them retain their staff. It is not a quasi-welfare state system so those ex-employees who have left and have been asking to be re-employed do need to look to claim Universal Credit and other benefits if their new employer cannot furlough them. To be clear, we do not advise dealers and garages to re-employ staff who have started jobs elsewhere. 
For those garages staying open, apprentices can be furloughed AND continue to be trained whilst furloughed but you must ensure that they are paid National Minimum Wage (NMW does not apply to other furloughed employees as they are not working). 

It has been confirmed that businesses can furlough people who are in the 12 week shielding category (as opposed to paying them SSP) as can those who have caring responsibilities.

Your furloughed employees can work for another employer (subject to what is in their contract with you).

And drumroll….employees can now be paid any regular payments which includes past overtime and compulsory commission payments (but not discretionary commission payments or bonus) and so if commission is in their contract, your sales people can be paid in line with the guidance for ‘Employees whose pay varies’ which means either the same month’s earnings from the previous year or the average monthly earnings for 2019/2020 tax year (pro-rata for those employed less than a year).

So, good news all round for the sales people in our industry!