furloughing
Sean Farmelo
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Hi I just wanted to see what other co-ops were doing in terms of furloughing staff and how they are going about it when a co-op has shared job roles? Additionally for instance with regards to the Warehouse cafe - the idea is to furlough all staff but most advice articles are written from the perspective of a director continuing their administration role over the furlough period but employees being fuloughed. where as in the case of the warehouse admin is shared and would continue (in a minimal way) in a period of furloughing all staff as there is no business activity going on.
Nathan Brown (Co-op Culture) Thu 26 Mar 2020 7:47AM
I was going to suggest your second solution @Dave Hollings - contract in a worker co-op who still has someone employed. @Sean Farmelo You could explore whether payment could be made in non-cash form e.g. vouchers for meals or room hire at the Warehouse Cafe. It might help to quickly draw up an estimate of what admin will be required while the co-op is mothballed. Or could you switch to offering takeaway deliveries and keep some folk working - I know of cafes who have done this. They could continue to share the admin.
Nathan Brown (Co-op Culture) Sat 28 Mar 2020 10:43AM
Saw this on Twitter. Obv check the formal confirmation . From Martin Lewis the money saving expert man: "CONFIRMED self-employed limited company directors CAN be furloughed as employees on their PAYE element, even if theyre sole employee. Technically they can't then work for the firm, but can continue to perform their statutory obligations as directors eg official legal filings etc" . So if your "admin" is only statutory stuff like legal fillings (I would argue anything that is a Director's Duty that you do as Directors rather than as employees) that may solve your problem. Obv wouldn't include work for this business such as marketing etc
Dhara (Sail Boat Project) Mon 30 Mar 2020 12:29PM
At Sail Boat Project we are looking at furloughing the four of us who are employed on PAYE and keeping things ticking over will be done by non-employed member directors.
John Atherton Tue 31 Mar 2020 10:13AM
Co-operatives UK HR has updated their info on furloughing again here.
https://www.uk.coop/hrpackage/coronavirus
Dave Hollings · Thu 26 Mar 2020 6:57AM
The guidance is quite clear on this issue. Furloughed workers must do no work for the business while they are furloughed. So the warehouse admin should ideally be done by a non-furloughed member of the co-operative. This is tricky where all members of the co-operative are furloughed and I don't know the solution. Maybe have a mutual arrangement with another co-operative in the same situation where you do each other's minimal admin. Or a small payment to another local co-operative to carry out your admin?