Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to his oral statement of 12 May 2020 on the extension of the coronavirus job retention scheme, whether term-time workers in education are eligible for furlough during July and August.

State funded schools have continued to receive their budgets as usual, regardless of any periods of partial or complete closure. That will ensure that they are able to continue to pay their staff, and meet their other regular financial commitments, as we move through these extraordinary times.

As public funds continue to be paid, HMRC‘s guidance for the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/claim-for-wage-costs-through-the-coronavirus-job-retention-scheme) states that public bodies, including schools, should not furlough staff via the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme if their wages are paid from public funds.

Staff in schools whose wages are not paid from public funds, and whose employer has already furloughed, may continue to be furloughed via the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, subject to criteria set out here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-financial-support-for-education-early-years-and-childrens-social-care/coronavirus-covid-19-financial-support-for-education-early-years-and-childrens-social-care#state-funded-schools.