Research and analysis

Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme: qualitative research with employers technical report - Wave 2

Published 17 July 2023

Prepared by Ipsos for HMRC

Polly Hollings, Claire Weil, Matthew Berkley (Ipsos)

Research report number: 712

July 2023

The views in this report are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect those of HM Revenue and Customs.

1. Timeline of the CJRS

The table below outlines the key changes to the CJRS over time and the evolving levels of employer versus government contributions (employee wages, pension and National Insurance contributions). Employers could voluntarily top-up wages to 100% throughout the life of the scheme.

Table 1: Timeline of the CJRS from March 2020 to September 2021

Time period	Government contribution: employer NICs and pension contributions	Government contribution: wages for hours not worked	Employer contribution: employer NICs and pension contributions	Employer contribution: wages for hours not worked	For hours not worked employee receives (per month)
March 2020 to July 2020	Yes	80% up to £2,500	No	No	80% up to £2,500
August 2020	No	80% up to £2,500	Yes	No	80% up to £2,500
September 2020	No	70% up to £2,187.50	Yes	10% up to £312.50	80% up to £2,500
October 2020	No	60% up to £1,875	Yes	20% up to £625	80% up to £2,500
November 2020 to June 2021	No	80% up to £2,500	Yes	No	80% up to £2,500
July 2021	No	70% up to £2,187.50	Yes	10% up to £312.50	80% up to £2,500
August 2021 to September 2021	No	60% up to £1,875	Yes	20% up to £625	80% up to £2,500

2. Research design

This technical report provides further detail on the design and delivery of the Wave 2 Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) Employer Qualitative Research for HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC).

This research follows an initial Wave 1 of qualitative research which involved in-depth interviews with both CJRS Users and Non-Users. Wave 1 of the research was carried out between November 2020 and February 2021. It explored experiences of the CJRS whilst it was running. This technical report details the research design and delivery for Wave 2 of the research, which was carried out after the end of the CJRS. Wave 2 therefore focused on employer reflections of their use of the CJRS and the impact they felt it had on their organisation and employees. This included exploring the role that employers felt the CJRS played in the continued viability of the organisation and protecting employees’ jobs. The research also explored whether there were any unintended positive or negative consequences from using the CJRS.

All participants included in the research were employers who had placed employees on furlough and claimed for a proportion of their wages through the CJRS.

2.1 Research approach

The research approach was designed to gather feedback from a range of employers to understand diversity in experiences. HMRC were interested in a range of different perspectives across those who used the CJRS. There was a need for the research to generate both depth of understanding in terms of point of view and breadth of coverage across different types of organisations.

In-depth interviews were identified as the best approach for engaging employers and understanding their experiences. Ipsos conducted 40 in-depth interviews with employers between 1 August and 7 October 2022. These lasted up to 60 minutes and took place by telephone or video call (Microsoft Teams) depending on participant preference.

The research was mindful that the pandemic had impacted employers in different ways, so consideration was given to minimising burden on participants. It was essential to approach participation in this research sensitively. Building on Ipsos experience of engaging employers, the research had a long fieldwork period to offer participants more flexibility around timings most convenient to them. Interviewers were also able to signpost participants to relevant sources of information and support, if required.

2.2 Sample source

The sample source for this research was a recontact sample from the Ipsos Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme Employer Quantitative Research: Wave 2. During this survey, participants were asked for their permission to be recontacted to take part in further research on similar topics. Those who agreed comprised the available sample for this qualitative research.

2.3 Sample design

A sample structure was designed to ensure a range of employers were included across the 40 interviews. This structure considered the following factors.

2.3.1 Reasons for using the CJRS

Wave 1 research identified that employers using the CJRS were driven to do so for different reasons. Some organisations indicated that they would have closed temporarily or permanently without the CJRS. Other employers said they used the CJRS to protect jobs and provide certainty, but the sustainability of their organisation was not in doubt. Another group of employers indicated that they would have continued to operate if they had not received funding from the CJRS. Wave 2 research sought to explore more carefully these reasons for using the CJRS. As such, participants were screened into the qualitative study based on their survey responses indicating what would have happened to their organisation without the CJRS ^{[footnote 1]}.

2.3.2 Use of the CJRS

The experiences of employers who still had employees on furlough when the CJRS came to an end and those who kept employees on furlough for the duration of the CJRS were of particular interest for this wave of the research. Inclusion of these two specific groups was identified as important for the sample to support the generation of insights into how the end of the CJRS affected employer decision-making, in particular around staffing.

2.3.3 Redundancies

In addition to sampling based on employer’s use of the CJRS throughout the pandemic, the sampling approach also emphasised different redundancy experiences. The sample was designed to include those who had made redundancies during the CJRS and upon closure of the CJRS to ensure these different experiences were captured.

2.3.4 Flexible furlough and rotating furlough

The sampling approach was also designed to bring out feedback on the impact of introducing flexible furlough as well as employer decisions to rotate certain employees with similar responsibilities or in similar roles on and off furlough. This practice of rotating furlough was discovered during the Wave 1 qualitative research. Quotas were set to ensure that those who had used flexible furlough were included in the sample.

2.3.5 Training offered to employees on furlough

The sampling approach sought to include employers who had offered training to employees to better understand this behaviour.

Secondary quotas were set to ensure the inclusion of organisations with different profiles. We sampled for a mix of firmographics including size of the organisation, sector (mix of standard industrial classification sectors) and location. As shown in the tables below, we have split the quotas into primary and secondary quotas.

3. Quotas

Quotas were set on a range of variables. These are shown in the full sample tables below.

3.1 Primary quotas

Table 2: Quota for use of the CJRS

Use of the CJRS	Quota (minimum)	Total
At least some employees on furlough for the duration of the CJRS	8	23
At least some employees on furlough when the CJRS closed (30 September 2021)	12	21

Table 3: Quota for reasons for using the CJRS

Reasons for using the CJRS	Quota (minimum)	Total
Organisation would have closed (temporarily or permanently) without the CJRS	8	19
Used the CJRS to protect jobs and provide certainty (but sustainability of organisation not in doubt)	8	26
Organisation would have continued to operate if had not received funding from the CJRS	6	20

Table 4: Quota for changes to business model

Changes to business model	Quota (minimum)	Total
Made changes to business model to protect employee jobs	4	4

Table 5: Quota for redundancies

Redundancies made	Quota (minimum)	Total
During the CJRS	10	18
At or after the CJRS ended	12	12
None	8	22

Table 6: Quota for use of flexible furlough

Use of flexible furlough	Quota (minimum)	Total
Used flexible furlough	6	30

3.2 Secondary quotas

Table 7: Quota for training

Training offered	Quota (minimum)	Total
Employees received training while on furlough	6	7

Table 8: Quota for organisation size

Organisation size	Quota (minimum)	Total
Micro (1 to 9 employees)	8	10
Small (10 to 49 employees)	8	10
Medium (50 to 249 employees)	8	11
Large (250 or more employees)	8	9

Table 9: Quota for location

Location	Quota (minimum)	Total
England	6	18
Scotland	6	7
Wales	6	7
Northern Ireland	6	8

Table 10: Quota for sector of activity

Sector of activity	Total
Accommodation and food service activities	5
Administrative and support service activities	6
Agriculture, forestry and fishing	1
Arts, entertainment and recreation	3
Construction	2
Education	4
Human health and social work activities	4
Information and communication	2
Manufacturing	3
Professional, scientific and technical activities	2
Real estate activities	2
Transportation and storage	1
Water supply; sewerage, waste management and remediation activities	1
Wholesale and retail trade	2
Other service activities	2

4. Recruitment

Potential participants generated from recontacts during the Ipsos CJRS Employer Quantitative Research: Wave 2 were contacted promptly after their participation in the survey. This helped ensure that the research and their consent for re-contact were fresh in their minds.

All recruitment was guided by a screening questionnaire, agreed by HMRC, designed to ascertain eligibility, to check key quotas, and any accessibility requirements for the interview. Recruitment was handled by an experienced recruiter who had previously managed Wave 1 recruitment of employers using the CJRS.

Potential participants were sent an invitation email detailing the research aims, topics of interest, and how the data collected would be used. The email invited participants to respond if they were interested in taking part, but also noted that they would be telephoned over the coming weeks to ask if they would be interested in participating. This initial contact by email was designed to give employers an opportunity to think about whether they wanted to take part before they were contacted via telephone. Once participants passed screening and consented to taking part, a date and time for the interview was agreed. Participants were sent a confirmation email and reminder message 24 hours prior to the interview.

To encourage participation and thank participants for their time, a £60 incentive was offered (direct payment or charitable donation).

Care was taken to ensure that participants were reassured about confidentiality and provided with clear information regarding the research process and data use. They were also provided with a named contact in the research team, should they have any questions.

5. Topic guide

All interviews were structured around the following topic guide, which was developed in partnership with HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) to ensure the interviews addressed the research aims effectively. It was particularly important to ensure that the questions asked supported a better understanding of how the evolution of the scheme shaped employer decision-making over time, and the impact of the CJRS on organisation and employer outcomes, particularly at the end of the CJRS. The table below shows the questions for exploration in the interviews.

Section 1: Introduction (5 minutes)

Thank participant for taking part.

Introduce yourself and Ipsos: we are an independent research organisation and HMRC have commissioned us to conduct research with a range of employers about their experiences of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS).

Explain the research: this is one of many one-to-one interviews with a range of different employers who used the CJRS. It builds on the telephone survey they took part in with us recently. This research aims to give HMRC a better understanding of the overall impact of the CJRS on employers, and in particular, to explore the impact of the scheme ending.

Explain how HMRC will use the research: The research findings will be used to improve HMRC’s understanding of how effective the scheme has been, and the ways in which HMRC can continue to improve the quality of support it provides to employers.

Explain the interview: it will be an informal conversation on their views, decision-making and experiences as an employer throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. We have certain topics we’re particularly interested in, but there are no right or wrong answers.

Explain confidentiality: this conversation is completely confidential, which means that HMRC won’t know that the participant’s or their business’ views are represented in the research. Any relationship participants have with HMRC will not be affected in any way.

Explain voluntary participation: if they wish to withdraw their consent to take part at any time, or stop the discussion for any reason, then please let us know.

Explain GDPR conditions: Ipsos requires a legal basis to process your personal data. Ipsos’ legal basis for processing your data is your consent to take part in this research.

Consent to audio record: ask for their permission to audio record the interview, to help us to write up our notes and for analysis purposes. Recordings are stored securely, only accessible by the research team, and are permanently destroyed one year after the interview has taken place, unless they ask us to destroy the recording before this.

Length of the interview: will be no longer than an hour.

Any questions before we begin?

GDPR consent (once the recorder is on)

“Ipsos’ legal basis for processing your data is your consent to take part in this research. Your participation in this research is voluntary. You can withdraw your consent for your data to be used at any point before, during or after the interview. Can I check that you are happy to proceed?”

Section 2: Organisational background and use of the CJRS (5 minutes)

This section aims to warm up the participant and to understand the nature of their business. Use questionnaire profile information to understand the nature of the participant’s organisation and their role within it.

Can you please tell me about your business?

Prompt using screening information to find out about:

• sector: what is it their business does

• staff: number; mix of part/full-time staff; use of freelancers/temporary workers

• length of time trading: this business; experience in the sector more widely

• financial health: before the UK went into the first lockdown on 23 March 2020, was their business broadly stable, growing, or in decline? Was their turnover or workload relatively stable or seasonal?

And what is your role within the business?

• day-to-day responsibilities; involvement in strategic / operational decisions

• who else is involved in financial and / or staffing decisions

The first lockdown was in place from March to June of 2020. How did this affect your organisation at the time?

CJRS came into effect as a result of the first lockdown. The objective here is to slowly warm-up the conversation and focus slowly on their application to CJRS. Explore impact on turnover, business health, customer demand, whether they had any periods of closure.

Section 3: Decision-making throughout the pandemic (20 minutes)

This section aims to understand how employers made decisions relating to staffing and their CJRS applications throughout the pandemic. The main aim is to understand how, if at all, their decision-making and use of the CJRS changed over time. Use the timeline stimulus and talk through the pandemic and the CJRS timeline with the participant. There are two broad sections for coverage below.

1) Understand the organisation’s initial response to use CJRS. This should help them anchor their thoughts in how the scheme was initially used.

2) Understand the use of CJRS over time . This section will focus on understanding how the scheme was used over time including number of staff furloughed, approach to topping-up wages, rotating staff, use of flexible furlough, and staff redundancies.

[Initial response]

I’d now like to explore your use of the CJRS and how your organisation made decisions over time in more detail. We’ll talk more specifically about the impact of the scheme ending separately.

Why did you decide to use the CJRS initially?

When did you first apply / start using it?

For your first application to the CJRS, how did you decide how many employees you needed to furlough?

Who took part in the decision-making (other staff members, employees themselves, external consultants)?

How did you decide which employees to put on furlough initially?

Why these employees and not others? Probe on employee characteristics, e.g. length of time in role, seniority, skills, personal circumstances (caring responsibilities or shielding), future-proofing.

Employers had the option of ‘topping up’ the CJRS grant as it did not cover the full wages. Was this something you did, or considered doing? Why did you decide to do this / not do this? What factors did you consider? Probe on employee characteristics (e.g. caring responsibilities, age, length of time in job)

[Use of CJRS over time]

Briefly, how did your use of the scheme change over time?

Were you claiming for the same number of staff each time, or did this vary?

Note down at which points their claims changed, i.e. when they started furloughing more / less staff. Refer to timeline if needed.

As time went on, how regularly were you making applications?

Record the dates of the first and last application.

How, if at all, did the number of employees furloughed change over time? Why?

When did this change, what prompted this?

How did your approach change over time? What other factors did you take into account over time?

How long did you anticipate furloughing employees for? Did this prove to be the case? Why / why not? Probe on changes to scheme rules, changes to organisation’s circumstances. How did your decision-making change over time? What factors did you take into account when thinking about which employees to furlough?

Refer to timeline if necessary.

How did government and employer contributions affect your decisions over who to furlough and when?

Did you regularly keep in contact with furloughed employees? How often?

(If they topped up wages) Did your decisions around topping up wages change over time?

How did changes in government and employer contributions affect your decisions over whether to top-up wages and by what amount?

How did increases to employer contributions affect your decisions about using the scheme? To what extent did the increase to employer contributions prompt you to consider reducing your use of CJRS by bringing staff back to work? To what extent did the increase to employer contributions prompt you to consider making redundancies (e.g., national insurance)?

How did you decide how much to top-up their wages by? Probe on whether changes to CJRS affected how much they topped up by.

(If they used flexible furlough) The design of the CJRS changed over time and from July 2020, employers could use flexible furlough for the first time, meaning that employees could return to work part-time. How did you use flexible furlough?

Why did you decide to use or decide not to use flexible furlough?

If used: Which staff were affected by your decision to use flexible furlough?

What dictated whether an employee would be put on part-time or full-time furlough? Probe on employee characteristics (e.g. caring responsibilities, age, length of time in job, skills, etc.)

Why did you decide to use flexible furlough in this way?

How, if at all, did flexible furlough change your use of furlough overall? To what extent did it reduce your overall use of furlough?

What was the impact of doing this on the employees and the organisation?

How, if at all, did you rotate staff on furlough?

Rotated furlough is defined as employees in similar roles taking turns to go on furlough.

Why did you decide to rotate staff on and off furlough?

What employees did you do this with? Why?

What was the impact of doing this on the employees and the organisation?

(If they had staff on furlough for 12+ months) I can see that you had some staff on furlough for 12 months or more. What led to these employees being furloughed for 12 months or more?

Did you plan on furloughing staff for this length of time or did other circumstances necessitate that?

Were there particular employee groups that were furloughed for 12 months or more?

Did any staff remain furloughed for the entirety of the scheme? Was this what you had anticipated for these staff? Probe on employee characteristics, e.g. length of time in role, seniority, skills, personal circumstances (caring responsibilities or shielding), future-proofing.

How was the decision to keep them on furlough throughout made?

(If they made staff redundant) I can see that you had to make some staff redundant during the course of the pandemic. Can you briefly summarise: how many staff you made redundant (or rough percentage of the workforce); whether you made multiple rounds when you made staff redundant?

What was your decision-making process around redundancies?

When did you make staff redundant?

How did you decide how many staff you would need to make redundant?

How did you decide which staff to make redundant?

What was the general level of experience of the staff that were made redundant?

What prompted redundancies? Why did you make them at the points you did?

Were there different reasons for making redundancies at different stages of the pandemic? What were these?

Section 4: Impact of furlough on employees (10 minutes)

This section aims to understand how employers felt the CJRS and being on furlough impacted employees.

How did being on furlough affect your staff?

• positive aspects and challenges of being furloughed

• how did this vary between those on part-time and full-time furlough

• (if on furlough for 12+ months) How did this vary for those furloughed for over 12 months

• how, if at all, did being furloughed impact on employee’s skills

How were non-furloughed staff affected, if at all, by the CJRS? Probe on: health and wellbeing; skills (i.e. were staff working throughout over-stretched / not have time to focus on formal training or development?)

Have you offered training to furloughed and / or non-furloughed staff during the CJRS implementation period?

Why did you offer training to staff and to what extent this was beneficial?

What type of training was offered to staff? Live courses? Pre-recorded videos? Internally run courses or externally run courses that the organisation paid for?

What was the outcome of offering training?

To what extent do you feel the training benefited employees?

To what extent do you feel the training benefitted the organisation?

Do you feel the training had any effect on employees’ health and wellbeing?

Section 5: The impact of the end of the CJRS (10 to 15 minutes)

This section aims to understand the impact of the scheme ending on employers.

The CJRS closed on 30 September 2021. HMRC announced that the scheme would close 6 months prior to that on 3 March 2021. What impact, if any, did this announcement have on your organisation and any decisions regarding staff?

Were you aware of this announcement when it was made?

How did you feel about the announcement when you learned about it?

When did you start thinking about the impact of the scheme winding down on your organisation? Why this point?

What were your thoughts about bringing any staff back from furlough?

What were your thoughts about any redundancies? Why / not?

What impact did the scheme ending have on your organisation as a whole?

What were the key decisions that your organisation made when the scheme came to an end?

I’d now like to focus on what happened to your furloughed employees once the scheme ended on 30 September 2021. What happened to the staff who were on furlough at this point?

How many did you bring back? How did you decide this?

Thinking about those who were on furlough up until the end of the scheme. What were the main reasons that employees remained on furlough until this time?

Which employees did you bring back? How did you decide this? Probe on employee characteristics (e.g. caring responsibilities, age, length of time in job, and also those on long-term furlough for 12 or more months)

(If they had employees furloughed for 12+ months and / or furloughed for the entirety of the CJRS timeline) What was the impact of the scheme closing on those who were furloughed all the way through the CJRS? What happened to these employees?

What happened to employees who were on furlough when the scheme ended, who you did not bring back?

Which staff were made redundant? Why? How were these decisions made?

Did you have a situation where you had staff kept on furlough until the end of the scheme, but did not bring them back? If yes, can you tell me more about this? Probe on why they were kept on furlough but not brought back.

And overall, looking back, what do you think would have happened to your organisation without the scheme?

What role did the scheme play for your organisation during the pandemic?

Did the CJRS address the needs you expected it to?

What would have recovery from the pandemic have looked like for your organisation without the CJRS?

Section 6: Wrap-up (5 minutes)

Explain that the interview is almost at a close.

What would you say was the main impact that the CJRS had on your organisation and how did that change over time?

Was it more necessary at certain times than others?

And thinking about the scheme overall, what is your overall view or opinion of the scheme?

What did you think about the amount of government contributions?

What are your views on how long the scheme ran for? Do you feel the scheme went on for too long or was too short? Why?

To what extent do you think the scheme should have been more targeted? For example, should it have targeted particular sectors or organisation types?

What, if anything, would you have changed about the scheme if you could?

Is there anything you would like to mention that we haven’t had the opportunity to discuss?

[Incentive]

Thank participant and remind them of confidentiality. Explain that they can get in touch if they have any further comments or questions about the research. Remind them of the £60 thank you from Ipsos, as an appreciation for their time and contribution to the research.

6. Data management and analysis

Following each interview, interviewers made detailed notes and recorded key participant verbatim quotes. These were coded into a thematic code frame in Excel, which was structured to reflect the research objectives and the topic guide coverage. This code frame enabled the research team to fully explore the data.

Analysis reflected broader research findings from complementary CJRS research being carried out by Ipsos. In parallel to this Wave 2 qualitative research on employers, Ipsos also conducted a quantitative study amongst employers and another qualitative research amongst employees. Emerging findings from these studies on pertinent topics such as topping up and training were drawn on to compare and contrast insights.

This analysis was supported by two researcher analysis sessions. These took place during and following completion of fieldwork. Each session lasted around 90 minutes and gave an opportunity for interviewers to share findings from across the interviews and explore emerging themes.

7. Ipsos’ standards and accreditations

Ipsos’ standards and accreditations provide our clients with the peace of mind that they can always depend on us to deliver reliable, sustainable findings. Our focus on quality and continuous improvement means we have embedded a “right first time” approach throughout our organisation.

1. Survey question D12: The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme was available to employers between 1st March 2020 and 30th September 2021. During this time, to the best of your knowledge, would your organisation have made more employees redundant if the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme was not available, or would it have made no difference? Survey question D14: Which of the following best describes what would have happened to your organisation if you had not received funding from the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme? ↩