Employment Advice
Free, practical employment advice and information on the coronavirus pandemic for the citizens of Scotland
Government Employment Restrictions and Schemes
***Updated Information***
Extension of the Self Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) – Announced 24th September 2020
The Government will be extending the Self Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS). An initial taxable grant will be provided to those currently eligible for SEISS and who are continuing to actively trade but face reduced demand due to coronavirus.
This initial Sum will cover three months’ worth of profits for the period from November to the end of January next year. This is worth 20% of average monthly profits, up to a total of £1,875.
An additional second grant, will be available to self-employed individuals to cover the period from February 2021 to the end of April. This may be adjusted to respond to changing circumstances.
The Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) allowed self-employed individuals to claim a first taxable grant. Applications for the first grant closed on the 13th July 2020.
The second grant is worth 70% of the average monthly trading profits, paid out in a single instalment, covering 3 months’ worth of profits, and capped at £6,570.
Applications for this grant opened in August 2020. This is the second and final grant.
HMRC should have supplied a date to you that you are able to apply for this. If eligible, and the businesses was adversely affected on or after 14th July 2020, you must make the claim for the second grant on or before 19th October 2020.
Eligibility for the second grant is worked out in the same way that the first grant was.
Claims can be made for the second grant (if eligible), even if there was no claim made for the first grant.
How does this work?
If you receive the grant you can:
– continue to work
– start a new trade or take on other employment including voluntary work and duties as a military reservist.
You do not have to repay the grant, but this is subject to Income Tax and self-employed National Insurance.
Eligibility Criteria
– you traded in the tax year 2018 to 2019 and submitted your Self Assessment tax return on or before 23rd April 2020 for that year
– you traded in the tax year 2019 to 2020
– you intend to continue to trade in the next tax year – 2020 to 2021.
You cannot claim the grant if you trade through a limited company or trust.
Claiming Maternity Allowance does not affect your eligibility for the grant.
Grants under SEISS are not counted as ‘access to public funds’, and you can claim the grant on all categories of work visa.
You can use the online service to check eligibility and inform HMRC of this. This is available at https://www.gov.uk/guidance/claim-a-grant-through-the-self-employment-income-support-scheme
Be wary of scams
You can only claim using official GOV.UK online services. Texts, calls or emails received from HMRC which offer financial help or a tax refund, requesting you to click a link or provide personal information will likely be a scam.
Payment of self-assessment tax (Payments on account)
These payments have been deferred until January 2021. Help may be available from HMRC if coronavirus has impacted a self-employed person’s ability to pay taxes. HMRC have a tax helpline for more advice, available at:
Employers are encouraged to avoid arranging business travel that goes against government advice. Current government advice should be followed to ensure that employers are not putting their employees at risk of contracting the virus or imposed self-isolation whilst away.
More information on current travel restrictions is available HERE .
Employers and employees should be flexible and understanding of each other’s circumstances when homeworking because of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
It is expected that ongoing changes will be constantly arranged for those working from home during the pandemic. For instance, this is likely to occur due to changes in government rules or employees’ circumstances.
Employers should consistently update their employees about decisions being made regarding working arrangements and plans to return to the workplace.
To see the latest government guidance in Scotland, see Scottish Government advice on working from home.
Sickness and Employment
Employers have a duty of care to their employees. There is a responsibility placed upon employers to ensure that staff health and safety is always protected – particularly during the current coronavirus pandemic.
For businesses that are allowed to reopen, employers will need to decide whether it is safe for their workers to return.
Many Scottish employees will have already noticed company-wide emails and signs placed in communal areas and workstations which reiterate the importance of proper handwashing and sanitising procedures. These should also highlight common symptoms of the virus to help identify instances of infection as early as possible.
Any member of staff who tests positive for the virus will have the same rights as they would have when sick for any other reason. The standard workplace sick leave / pay entitlement will apply. Employees who work for companies who offer contractual sick pay should receive this if their employer is adhering to good practice.
Employees are entitled to claim statutory sick pay if their employer does not offer contractual sick pay. This is £96.35 per week for up to 28 weeks. Under normal circumstances, this would be paid from the fourth day of illness. However, the government have announced that it will now be paid from the first day of illness due to the coronavirus outbreak.
Those employees on zero hours contracts may be entitled to sick pay. The qualifying criteria stipulates that the recipient needs to have earned more than £120 per week before tax, over a period of eight weeks. This does not include self-employed workers who are not currently entitled to statutory sick pay.
In instances where an employee is visiting an affected area, remains quarantined, or is advised to self-isolate, there is no automatic right for them to receive their full, normal pay. Employers have been encouraged to follow their normal sick leave policy.
For those who have been diagnosed as having contracted the virus, the medical recommendation is to self-isolate for a period of 10 days to contain the spread. Where an employee has been asked to self-isolate by a medical professional, employers are asked to remain accommodating and offer a degree of flexibility when requesting evidence from the employee, as self-isolation may make any paperwork harder to obtain.
In order to contain the spread of the virus, employers are encouraged to consider letting employees work from home when possible. However, employees who do not have the virus, yet choose to self-isolate, will not be automatically entitled to full pay without the approval of their employer.
Sickness and Absence due to Long COVID-19
With certain people, coronavirus (COVID-19) can cause symptoms which may last weeks or months after being infected. This is referred to as ‘post-COVID-19 syndrome’, ‘long-tail COVID’, or ‘long COVID’.
Long COVID-19 symptoms could affect an individual’s ability to work or cause them to take sickness absence.
The normal conditions and rules for sickness absence and sick pay still apply when someone is off work because of long COVID-19. You can check out further information about Long COVID-19 from the NHS website regarding the:
What are Employers Expected to Do?
Employers should acknowledge the effects of long COVID-19 and recognise that it can come and go. Some days the individual might feel well, but on others their symptoms can be worse, and they might need to be off work again.
Should someone be off sick, they might feel isolated or need support to return to work. Employers should:
- Agree how and when to make contact during any absence.
- Make sure their work is covered and shared out appropriately while they are absent.
- Discuss what options they can take to support those suffering from Long COVID-19 as they return to work where and when possible.
What to do If the Employee Believes they can Return to Work
The employer should talk with the employee about any support they may need. They could discuss:
- Carrying out an occupational health assessment.
- Making changes to the workplace or to how the employee works (‘reasonable adjustments’), such as different working hours.
- Arranging a phased return to work.
- What they want to tell others at work about their illness.
What should I do If an Employee is Struggling to do their Job?
Should an employer assess an employee to be struggling to do their work effectively or is taking a lot of absence, they should see if they can do anything to help. For example, the employee may require another occupational health assessment to see if further support is needed.
They are expected to ensure they have done everything they can prior to considering a capability procedure.
If an employer dismisses an employee without first carrying out a full and fair disciplinary or capability procedure, the employee could make a claim of unfair dismissal to an employment tribunal.
The Potential for Long COVID-19 to be Treated as a Disability
By law, a disability is a physical or mental impairment that has a ‘substantial and long-term’ negative effect on a person’s ability to do normal day-to-day activities.
‘Long term’ means the impairment:
- Has occurred or will occur for at least 12 months.
- Can come and go or is likely to last for the rest of the person’s life.
Long COVID is still a relatively new illness which may take time to understand it fully. It can impact people in terms of they go about their day-to-day activities, and it is currently understood that it can last or come and go for several months. The effects of long COVID could also cause other impairments.
Bearing this in mind, it may be a good idea for the employer to focus on making reasonable adjustments rather than trying to figure out if an employee’s condition is a disability.
Ensuring Employers Avoid the Potential for Discrimination in the Workplace
In addition to disability, employers must be careful to avoid other types of discrimination when considering long COVID. Long COVID-19 has been found to affect more severely:
- Older people
- Ethnic minorities
- Women
Employers must avoid discriminating by age, disability, race, or sex. You can check out further information on avoiding discrimination during COVID-19 from the Equality and Human Rights Commission
Workplace Closures and Taking Time Off
Some citizens may need to take time out of work to help someone who depends on them in an ‘unexpected emergency’. This could include situations such as:
- The closure of their child’s school and childcare needs arranged
- Their child or another dependent is sick, needing to go into isolation or the hospital.
The worker or employee has an entitlement to take time off for one of the above reasons. The amount of time that the employee or worker takes must be appropriate for the emergency that they face. This means that they should only take a small number of days off and if the situation persists, discuss more long-term arrangements (e.g. using holiday allowance).
If the worker or employee is looking after a partner, child or relative in the same household, they will be entitled to statutory sick pay. If this doesn’t apply, there is no statutory right to pay for the time absent. However, some employers may pay this depending on their contract or workplace policy.
If an employer closes a workplace or requests employees to stay at home, and the employee is not sick and is able to work, they should receive their normal pay.
This also applies if the employer asks the employee to stay at home as a precautionary measure after returning from an affected area.
If annual leave is cancelled by an employer due to fears about coronavirus, then travel insurance probably won’t cover the holiday costs if you do not go. In situations where absence is likely to have an impact on an employee’s income for prolonged periods of time, the advice is to use annual leave as an alternative. However, this is not being enforced and is at the discretion of the employer.
Remember:
Step 1:
Discuss options with employers that are beneficial for all parties, such as homeworking or use of annual-leave as an alternative to sick-leave.
Step 2:
Remember that employment processes are in place to protect worker’s rights.
Step 3:
Make contingencies for the care of children and other dependents. Keep yourself and others around you safe.
If you feel that your rights as an employee have been breached, you should first discuss this informally with your line manager.
If you do not receive a satisfactory response, then you can raise this as a grievance with your employer in writing. Care should be taken to ensure that you approach the subject in a professional and formal manner. Detailed guidance on raising a formal grievance, including advice on how you should construct the letter, can be found on the ACAS website.
Finally, if you are unhappy with the response to your grievance or the way in which the situation has been handled, you then have the option to escalate this to an employment tribunal.
Taking holidays while working from home
It is still possible for employers or workers that are working from home to take holidays during COVID-19. Employees and workers will have 5.6 weeks of statutory annual leave and may have any additional contractual holiday that is outlined in their contract. It is advisable for an employee or worker to discuss taking holidays with their employer. They should be prepared to negotiate as the employer will have to consider the adverse circumstances when granting holidays.
Taking holidays while furloughed
Employees and workers that have been furloughed can also take holidays. This must be requested from the employer through their normal request process. The employer has discretion to decide if holidays can be taken on a certain date(s). Employees and workers will have 5.6 weeks of statutory annual leave and may have any additional contractual holidays that are outlined in their contract. Furloughed employees and workers are entitled to full pay during holidays, as opposed to the 20% reduction that they are paid whilst furloughed.
Carrying over holidays to the upcoming holiday year
The government has put employment legislation in place that will make it possible to carry holidays from this year over to 2021 or 2022. This can be done with up to 4 weeks holiday from the current holiday year. The new legislation does not affect any informal agreements with employers to carry over holidays. Employees and workers that have been furloughed can also carry over their holidays in line with the legislation and for informal agreements with employers. If an employee or worker has been dismissed and has carried over holidays, the holiday pay must be added to their final pay slip.
Bank Holidays
Bank holidays are national public holidays where employers can require their employees or workers to take one of their statutory holidays. The only exception is when an employee is on sick leave and a holiday is not taken for that day. Contracts of employment should state whether the employer will require holidays to be taken on bank holidays. If the employer decides that bank holidays are not required to be taken, the holiday can be carried over and taken over the next 2 holiday years.
Employment and Childcare Responsibilities
This section outlines responsibilities and arrangements related to how child maintenance and residence issues are impacted by COVID 19.
Overview
· Informal Child maintenance
· CMS child maintenance
· Maintenance and the end of the school year
· Child custody/residence
· Court cases and COVID 19
· Contacting the police about abuse
Informal Child Maintenance
Informal child maintenance (child maintenance that is agreed between parents without the involvement of the Child Maintenance Service – CMS), should continue throughout the COVID 19 pandemic.
The law expects those who hold parental rights and responsibilities to find an agreement on what is best for the child. If this informal agreement can’t be maintained for whatever reason or the one paying the maintenance refuses, the first step is to try and renegotiate a mutually beneficial and realistic agreement. Communicating with the other parent is the easiest way to find a solution and to prevent escalation.
If this is not possible, there are two ways the payment of maintenance can be enforced.
· The first is to take legal action if the agreement is legally binding.
· The second is to contact the Child Maintenance Service (Scotland) to create a new arrangement that can be enforced.
Child Maintenance Service Child Maintenance
If you are receiving maintenance from a Child Maintenance Service (CMS) arrangement, this will continue as normal throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. The Child Maintenance Service has methods to enforce payment that can be still be used throughout this period. Communication with the other parent (if possible) may help to halt any attempts to stop payments. In addition, the paying parent must inform CMS if their income changes by 25% or more.
If the paying parent does not meet their child maintenance obligations under the direct pay scheme, you can contact the CMS and ask to be moved to collect and pay. This scheme allows the CMS to collect the money from paying parent and send it to you. This scheme provides enforcement, but the CMS will require payment from both the paying parent and you for their collect and pay services.
End of Child Maintenance and the School Year
Child maintenance ends for a child that has reached the age 16 or the age of 20 if they are in full time education (up to and including Scottish Highers). COVID-19 has disrupted the school timetables and may extend the school term. Child maintenance may stop sooner or later than would otherwise be expected. Local councils are in control of school leaving dates for their area and have the responsibility of changing them if necessary.
You can find your local council’s school term times by visiting:
https://www.mygov.scot/school-term-holiday-dates/%20/h
You can find and contact your local council by visiting:
https://www.mygov.scot/find-your-local-council/
Child Custody / Residence
Both informal and court-decided child custody and residence arrangements will be maintained despite COVID-19. If issues occur in an informal agreement, the easiest way to reach a resolution is to discuss the matter. Please note that Government restrictions may prevent the other parent from fulfilling the agreement. Although children under the age of 18 can be moved between their parents’ homes, Government guidelines prevent the child from leaving their current residence for 14 days if they or someone they live with has symptoms of COVID-19.
It is still possible to take the other partner to court over the matter if the agreement is legally enforceable and no other solution can be agreed.
Court Cases and COVID 19
All court business will continue despite COVID-19. In line with government restrictions put in place to ensure social distancing, alternative arrangements will need to be made.
This could mean that the case is dealt with online or by telephone. Applications to court are still being made but there may be delays.
Contacting the Police about Abuse.
The police are still available to act against any abuse taking place. Call 999 if there is immediate danger or 111 if advice and guidance is required or if a report needs to be made. Don’t suffer in silence and speak out immediately.
Statutory Maternity
Pay
Eligibility for maternity pay will remain the same despite COVID 19. The criteria are:
· You must be on your employer’s payroll during the qualifying week (the 15th week before the expected week of childbirth).
· You must give correct notice to your employer (28 days’ notice before the start date).
· You must prove to your employer that you are pregnant.
· You have been continuously employed by that employer for at least 26 weeks up to any day in the qualifying week
· You earned at least £120 a week (gross) in an 8-week ‘relevant period’
Statutory maternity pay should still be paid even if the business is closed due to COVID 19. This must be paid in full and not at 80% in August and 70% in September like furloughed workers. If the employer is unable to afford to pay SMP, they can ask HMRC for an advance to pay it.
If you have returned from maternity leave and been furloughed, your rate of maternity pay will determine the amount of furlough pay that you receive. This means that you will receive 80% of your maternity pay and not 80% of your normal pay. This will be reduced to 70% of wages up to a maximum cap of £2,187.50 in September.
Maternity Allowance
You can still claim maternity allowance, as long as you still meet the eligibility criteria:
· You have submitted the claim form once 26 weeks pregnant
· It can only start 11 weeks before the baby’s due date.
· You have completed 26 weeks of employment or self-employment in the 66 weeks before the due date.
· You have made class 2 National insurance contributions for at least 13 weeks of the 66 weeks before the due date.
It is not yet clear if claiming maternity allowance will affect eligibility for the self-employed income support scheme.
Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) & Maternity
It is possible for self-employed mothers to use the self-employment income support scheme (SEISS) while on maternity leave. They will still need to meet the eligibility criteria for SEISS. Usually, a successful applicant will need to be trading at the time of application. However, if you are on maternity leave, you will still be considered as trading for the purposes of the scheme, so long as you intend to resume the business after the maternity allowance period. You may need to prove that your profits would have been affected by COVID 19 if you were not on maternity leave. The eligibility criteria are stated below:
· You must be self-employed.
· You must have traded in the 2019-2020 tax year.
· You intend to continue trading in the 2020-2021 tax year
· You must be currently trading, or corona virus has stopped you from trading
· You must have lost trading profits or partnership trading profits as a result of coronavirus
· You must not have annual trading profits that are higher than £50,000
· Your trading profits and partnership trading profits in the 2018-2019 tax year must be more than half of your taxable income. Alternatively, your average trading profits of 2016 to 2017, 2017 to 2018, and 2018 to 2019 must be less than £50,000 and make up more than half of your taxable income.
· More than half of your income must come from self-employment.
Maternity leave and being furloughed under the Job Retention Scheme
All employees/workers that are on maternity, paternity or adoption leave can all be furloughed in this scheme. It is the employer’s decision whether to do this or whether to pay the employee themselves. Any contractual pay will be counted as wages for the purposes of this scheme.
If the employee is on statutory maternity pay, they must get 90% of their average weekly earnings in the first 6 weeks. For the next 33 weeks they must be paid 90% of their average weekly earnings or the statutory flat rate (whichever is lower).
A resource that can calculate how much maternity/paternity/adoption leave is normally paid (including the statutory flat rate) is available at: https://www.gov.uk/pay-leave-for-parents
Sick Leave & COVID 19
You should only be put on sick leave by your employer if you have been signed off by a medical professional or if you have COVID-19 symptoms. Alternatively, if you are unable to work due to pregnancy, your employer could furlough you and you will be paid 80% of your wages.
Time on statutory sick pay counts toward the continuous employment requirements of statutory maternity pay. This is also the case for the calculations of earnings for statutory maternity leave, meaning that SMP could be lower or you may have
to claim maternity allowance instead.
Discrimination Issues
The Equality act (2010) states that pregnancy is a protected characteristic, meaning that any discrimination against someone who is pregnant is unlawful.
Discrimination during the COVID 19 outbreak (e.g. discrimination in the choice of who to furlough) is no exception. If you are a worker/employee and have been discriminated against because you are pregnant (or it is believed that you are
pregnant), you can contact the Equality Advisory Support Service.
Equality Advisory Support Service
0808 800 0082 (Open 9am-7pm)
1-Free School meals
School meals are offered free of charge to all school children who are in primary 1, 2 or 3. In addition, your council has the option of providing free milk, breakfast food and/or fruit if it sees fit.
After Primary 3, free School meals are only provided to your child if you meet the eligibility criteria (or you are the school student, are 16-18-years old and meet the criteria). One of the following criteria must be met:
- You claim Universal Credit and your monthly earned income is under £610
- You claim Income Support
- You claim Income-based JSA
- You claim Income-based ESA
- You claim Child tax credit, do not claim working tax credit and your annual income is under £16,105
- You claim both Child tax credit and working tax credit. Your annual income must also be less than £7330.
- You are an asylum seeker entitled to support under the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
- You are facing financial hardship and waiting for the first payment of Universal Credit.
You will need to contact your local council to claim free school meals after your child has reached primary 4.
2-Data Allowance Increase Scheme for remote School Education
Who can benefit from this scheme?
The scheme can be used to provide increased data allowances for students at school that have a mobile phone. This mobile phone must be on one of the following networks for the student to qualify:
- EE
- Sky Mobile
- Smarty
- Tesco Mobile
- Three
- Virgin Mobile
In addition, the students need to be facing a disadvantage to their education that increased data allowance can attempt to mitigate. The scheme can be used to help a student with any of the following issues with their education:
- Their face-to-face learning has been disrupted or replaced by remote learning due to COVID 19 restrictions.
- They do not have fixed broadband at their home.
- Their family cannot afford the additional data costs for internet based remote learning.
- They are clinically determined to be extremely vulnerable.
Who can apply to the scheme and what information do they need?
Students and parents cannot apply to this scheme directly. Only the schools, trusts and local authorities can apply and will do so on behalf of students. If students or their parents want their school/trust/local authority to apply to the scheme, they should contact them and explain how the student would qualify.
The School/trust/local authority will need the following information to make the application:
- The mobile’s number.
- The network the mobile is using.
- The name of the mobile network account holder.
If the application is successful, a text message from the provider will be sent to the account holder. The process time for providing extra data allowances will vary depending on the provider.
3-Provision of routers
The UK government has provided 4G routers to local authorities to ensure that disadvantaged children can get access to the internet when taking part in remote learning.
Routers can be requested by a school from a local authority for children that meet one of the following criteria:
- The child is 3-13 years old, has no internet access and can’t take part in face-to-face education
- The child has been advised to shield against COVID 19
- The child is attending a hospital school
If you need to request a router for your child’s remote learning, contact their school about the matter.
4-School Clothing Grant
If your child is attending face-to-face school, you may be able to receive a grant that can be used to pay for their school uniform and shoes. This grant is delivered as a £100 payment into your chosen bank account.
You can apply for the School Clothing grant by contacting your local council. The eligibility criteria will depend on which local council area you live in.
You can find your council’s contact information here.
5-Best Start Grant School age payment
The best start grant is a Social Security Scotland benefit that has replaced the sure start grant. The School Age Payment is a component of this that is intended to help with the costs of sending a child to school. This grant takes the form of a single £250 payment into an account of your choice. You can only receive this payment once for each child.
In order to claim the School Age Payment, you must meet the following criteria:
- You must apply between the 1st of June before the child starts school and the end of February the year after they have started school.
- Your child has just started school, or you plan for them to start school.
- You get either Income Support, Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance, Income-related Employment and Support Allowance, Pension Credit, Child Tax Credit, Working Tax Credit, Housing Benefit or Universal Credit.
- You must live in Scotland
6-Education resources and advice
The National Improvement Hub has published resources and advice for those who have children at home that are doing online remote learning. This is called the National e-learning offer.
The SQA provides resources and advice on National Qualifications.
BBC Scotland has a variety of resources to assist with online and remote learning
Education Scotland has produced a guide to remote learning
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