Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether (a) temporary and (b) agency workers will accrue holiday pay while on furlough; whether agencies and umbrella companies are able to reclaim holiday pay through the furlough grant; what steps companies can take to support their workers who come from agencies and umbrella companies if those agency or umbrella companies do not agree to furlough employees.

The Government has been clear that employment rights remain unchanged under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS). Therefore, all workers’, including agency and temporary workers’, right to holiday accrues to the extent and in the same way it did prior to being placed on to furlough under the CJRS, as provided by the individual’s statutory and contractual rights.

Employers are able to use the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme grant to cover wages paid to their workers, up to 80% of the worker’s usual pay. This includes holiday pay, but where holiday pay owed exceeds the amount in the grant, the employer is required to make up the difference.

Further guidance to help employers manage holiday pay during Coronavirus is available on gov.uk.

In this unprecedented time, we would urge employers and agencies to take socially responsible decisions and listen to the concerns of their workforce. Employers and workers, including agency workers, should come to a pragmatic agreement about these arrangements. We have been clear that employers should carefully consider the guidance.

However, access to the scheme is not an employment right and it is up to the employer to decide whom to furlough.