Remember the CJRS Scheme?

Furlough was a lifeline to many an employee and business, but some businesses took advantage of a lightly regulated payment system.

The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (Furlough Scheme) is almost a distant memory. In fact, I had to think twice about what CJRS stood for, yet not too long ago the scheme provided millions of workers throughout the UK the opportunity to receive up to 80% of their pay when they were sent home from work during the pandemic.

The operation was fairly simple from an employer’s perspective, particularly when staff were furloughed full time. It got a little more tricky when flexible furlough came on the scene but was by no means so complicated as to make it unworkable.

Faced with the prospect of not just surviving the pandemic, some employers saw the CJRS as a money making scheme. There were outright fraudulent claims where individuals set up bogus companies and claimed millions in payments, but there were also the existing companies that thought it was worth the risk to keep staff working full time and also claim furlough pay for them.