The coronavirus situation continues to disrupt and reshape “business as usual”. In this week’s roundup, we examine key employment issues; immigration issues; and new procurement guidance.

Employment

Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme: how it works
Following the government’s announcement that employers will be able to ask HMRC for a grant to cover 80% of furloughed workers’ wage costs, we take a detailed look at how the scheme works – and what questions still need to be answered.

Click here for more. 

For last week’s article on redundancy and lay-offs more generally, click here.

Catch up with our employment webinars

Employment law implications of coronavirus

What we know about the Furloughed Employee Scheme

What’s going to happen to  my employment tribunal claims?

Regardless of which side of the claim you fall on, if you have an upcoming hearing you may be concerned about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Here we set out a brief summary of recent guidance from the Employment Tribunal and what you can expect to happen to any pending hearings.

Immigration update

Coronavirus has brought change and disruption to all our lives. For those navigating the UK Immigration system, there are shifts and adjustments happening almost daily.

In our latest blog, we look are some of the ways in which the immigration system has already been impacted by the pandemic. There remain many unanswered questions about how the recent measures and guidance announced by the government will affect the immigration system. We are liaising with the immigration law community and the Home Office to obtain answers and clarity on these as soon as we can. Click here for more.

New procurement guidance from the Cabinet Office

The Cabinet Office has released Procurement Policy Note 01/20: Responding to COVID-19. PPN 01/20 reminds contracting authorities – and their suppliers – what flexibilities currently exist within the Public Procurement Regulations to act quickly, where necessary, to procure goods and services. It is not a relaxation of the regulations in the face of COVID-19. For an overview of what this could mean for your organisation in practice, click here.

Update for charities

Charity Trustee Meetings

Many clients have reached out to us with queries about how trustee meetings can run in the “new normal”. Offices are closed, we are not meeting face to face, but we still need to take decisions. Both the Charity Commission and OSCR have stated they will be relaxed about technicalities. What matters now is making the best decisions you can, not how you make them. However, we’ve prepared a brief guide to trustee meetings to help you get the procedure right. Click here for more

Charity governance and solvency

We’ve prepared a quick guide for charity trustees concerned about solvency, and wondering how to approach it in the immediate crisis caused by the coronavirus shutdown. In the guide, we outline the key considerations, such as why legal form matters and how to quickly gauge solvency. We also look at insurance, governance, crisis planning, and what not to do. Click here for more.

Releasing restricted funds and endowments

Following the cancellation of fundraising events and activities across the country and loss of fundraising income, many charities are in urgent need of alternative sources of funding. One option that many charities may consider is whether they can access their restricted funds and endowments to plug the shortfall in income. We examine the possibilities here.

Across the not-for-profit sector: latest responses to COVID-19

Across the sector, bodies from DCMS to the Charity Commission have been releasing new and updated guidance in light of the spread of coronavirus. We’ve rounded up the latest bulletins covering:

  • Sector news
  • Funding
  • Business rates
  • Regulatory updates (from the Charity Commission, Companies House, Fundraising Regulator and more)
  • Early years
  • New coronavirus legislation
  • Data protection
  • Housing and homelessness
  • Finance and audit

Click here for the full article.

In case you missed it

Some of our most popular updates from last week included:
Coronavirus and contractual obligations
Coronavirus: key questions for landlords and tenants

To stay up to date with all our latest updates, take a look at our Coronavirus Insights Hub.