Can Company Directors Be Furloughed

Can Company Directors Be Furloughed?

Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme by the Government has made it very clear about Furlough Policies but still, there are unanswered questions like Can A Director Be Furloughed in any company? 

No satisfying answers are dealt with in regard to company directors being on furlough. One thing is to ensure that non-executive directors can’t be furloughed because they are not the employees of the company. The question arises about other directors here. 

 

Directors Tend to Wear Two Hats:

Generally, the directors have multiple roles in the company. 

  • Firstly, they can have a role as a registered director of the company which means they are a record director of the company. 
  • In the second case, the directors are the employees of the company as well. 
  • Some directors are also shareholders which is another type of case in this regard. 

flexible furlough

 Learn Major Takeaways of Company Directors and shareholders with Accotax!

 

Statutory Duties and Directors:

Before we dig deep into the debate on Can A Director Be Furloughed, let’s talk about the statutory duties of directors. In case the director works as an employee with the company, is it possible to run the business to send them on furlough and carry out the business without the duties they perform? The trouble in answering this question is:

“There is no fine line between the duties performed by the directors who work as an employee with the company and the director who is registered.”

The duties carried out by a director are the backbone of the work structure. Without this, it is uncertain to run the company. So, the director just can’t be on furlough for an indefinite time period and perform his duties. By furlough we mean the unpaid absence of the employee and for that certain time period, the employee is not required to do any of the job tasks. This seems impossible without the directors to carry out with the company. 

Reach out to Accotax for the Job Retention Scheme and learn more about the terms and conditions of Furlough!

 

Further Information From HMRC:

Can A Director be furloughed? Yes, confirmed by a representative of HMRC. However,  this has conditions that say it is possible only in terms of employment but he will continue performing his duties. Although, this information is still not confirmed formally from the Government or HMRC. 

In cases where the director is also the shareholder, they will get a small portion of their salary and the rest of the amount will be given as dividends. The reason behind the dividends that you are protected from paying national insurance as it is paid through PAYE. So, if the shareholder director is furloughed only 80 percent of his salary is recovered and the rest of the amount is not remunerated. 

 

Furlough And Shareholder Directors:

Let’s take a practical example of a director who is also a shareholder of the company for a better understanding of this particular scenario. 

We suppose:

  • Harry is an MD of a company and also he has 40 percent shares of his company. 
  • His annual salary aggregate is  £8,600 whereas dividends are £50,000.
  • He gets a total of £4,883.33 every month. 
  • If Harry is on furlough, the company will only recover 80 percent of his salary which means the amount is £573.33. 

Struggling directors who are also the shareholders are very disappointed by this news. There is a struggle by the directors going on to reconsider this situation and rectify it to a better solution but there is no development so far. 

For further updates and developments, be in touch with Accotax!

 

Conclusion:

To sum up, the debate on Can A director be furloughed, we can say that whether the director is a shareholder or works as an employee of the company, he can’t be on furlough completely like other employees. The reason behind is that to carry out the company and business without a director’s performing duties is not possible. This would be like you are sinking your business name with your own hands.  Moreover, in terms of employment, a director can be partially on furlough which causes him damage like other employees as he gets only 80 percent of what he was earning before. The remaining 20 percent of the amount can’t be recovered. Which is a demotivating and disappointing factor for the directors as well. 

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