Guidance

Full examples of how to calculate the amount you should claim for an employee who is flexibly furloughed

Updated 29 October 2021

The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme closed on 30 September 2021.

These examples demonstrate the full sequence of calculation steps that an employer must take when claiming through the scheme.

Examples are based on claim periods using a common scenario in which the employee has a fixed monthly salary, fixed working hours, and is flexibly furloughed. They may not directly reflect your circumstances, though it may be helpful to see examples of a full calculation.

Full example showing how to calculate the amount you should claim for an employee who is flexibly furloughed during June 2021

An employee has worked for A Ltd since 2016, working 40 hours a week. They are paid a monthly salary of £3,000.

The employee was originally furloughed from 25 April 2020 to 31 August 2020. Pay has not been topped up and there is no bonus, commission or other additional pay.

On 28 May 2021, A Ltd and the employee make a flexible furlough agreement to start from 2 June 2021 under which the employee will:

• work half days from 2 June 2021 up to and including 7 June 2021 (the employee will be off work for 2 of these days, so they’ll work 4 half days in this period)
• not work and be furloughed from 8 June 2021 to 5 July 2021

No other employees are furloughed in June 2021.

As claims cannot include days from more than one calendar month, and as it aligns with their pay period, A Ltd prepares its claim for June 2021, from 2 June 2021 to 30 June 2021.

It will later make a separate claim for the July 2021 furlough days.

This employee is flexibly furloughed from 2 June 2021 so A Ltd works out the employee’s usual hours. The employee has fixed hours and a salary that does not vary by the number of hours worked and F Ltd identifies the appropriate calculation in the guidance.

The employee’s reference date is 19 March 2020. The last pay period ending on or before that date was the month ending 29 February 2020.

1. The number of hours the employee was contracted for at the end of the last pay period ending on or before the employee’s reference date, the month ending 29 February 2020, was 40 hours per week.

2. Divide by the number of calendar days in the repeating working pattern. It is a weekly pattern, so divide by 7.

3. Multiply by the number of days in the pay period or partial pay period the employer is claiming for. The employee was not furloughed until 2 June 2021, so multiply by 29.

4. This is 165.71 hours which, because it’s calculated for the whole claim period, rounds up to 166 hours.

Next A Ltd calculates the number of working hours and furloughed hours. The employee will work 4 half days, each of 4 hours, so working hours are 16. Furlough hours are calculated as:

1. Number of usual hours, 166

2. Subtract the 16 hours worked, 166 – 16 = 150 furlough hours.

A Ltd then identifies the maximum wage amount and 80% of the employee’s usual wage to work out the furlough pay and amount of pay grant it can claim.

The claim period is 29 days and the employee is paid calendar monthly, so A Ltd must use the daily figure to calculate the maximum wage amount: 29 days x £83.34 (daily maximum wage amount for June 2021) = £2,416.86.

The employee is on fixed pay, so A Ltd needs to identify the correct reference date before working out the usual wage.

1. The wages payable to the employee in the last pay period ending on or before the employee’s reference date, in this case the month to 29 February 2020, was £3,000.

2. Divide by the number of days in the pay period the employer is claiming for, which is 30 days in the June 2021 pay period.

3. Multiply by the number of furlough days, 29.

4. Multiply by 80% = £2,320.

Finally, A Ltd must calculate the minimum furlough pay, which will also be the amount of furlough grant they can claim.

A Ltd will use the lesser of:

• 80% of the usual wage, £2,320
• the maximum wage amount, £2,416.86

1. Using the lesser amount from this comparison is 80% of the usual wage, £2,320.

2. Multiply by the employee’s furlough hours, 150.

3. Divide by the employee’s usual hours, 166 = £2,096.39

This is the minimum amount that the employee must be paid for the furlough hours (the employee must be paid for the working hours in addition to this, at their full contractual rate).

As the claim is for June 2021, A Ltd can claim a wage grant for the whole amount of the minimum furlough pay.

For June 2021, no grant is available towards Employer National Insurance Contribution or Pension costs, so this is the end of the calculation.

A Ltd checks when it can claim, which is no more than 14 days before the end of the claim period (16 June 2021 for claim period ending 30 June 2021) and, as the claim is for furlough days in June 2021, no later than 14 July 2021.

A Ltd will need to make a separate claim for the furlough days in July 2021.

Full example showing how to calculate the amount you should claim for an employee who is flexibly furloughed in July 2021

The employee has worked for B Ltd since 2016, working 40 hours a week. They are paid a monthly salary of £3,000.

The employee was furloughed from 25 May 2021 to 30 June 2021 and had been working half days from 1 July 2021. The employee starts to work full (8 hour) days on Mondays, continuing to work half days (4 hours) from Tuesday to Friday.

B Ltd prepares its claim for 1 July 2021 to 31 July 2021. B Ltd identifies the maximum wage amount is £2,500 for the claim for this period for this employee. This is not the maximum amount that B Ltd can claim for this period for this employee, but B Ltd needs to identify this for the purposes of the calculation.

The employee’s reference date is 19 March 2020. The wages payable to the employee in the last pay period ending on or before 19 March 2020 (in the February 2020 pay period) was £2,400.

As the employer’s July 2021 claim period is a different length from the previous months (the employer’s July claim period is 31 days) the usual hours calculation will need to be done again for this claim period.

1. The number of hours the employee was contracted for at the end of the last pay period ending on or before the employee’s reference date (19 March 2020). This was 40 hours per week.

2. Divide by the number of calendar days in the repeating working pattern. It is a weekly pattern, so divide by 7.

3. Multiply by the number of days in the pay period. There are 31 days in July, so multiply by 31.

4. The result is 177.14, rounded up to 178.

B Ltd then calculates the number of working hours and furlough hours. The employee will work 18 half-days and 4 full days in July 2021 (4 and 8 hours respectively), so actual working hours are 104. Furlough hours are then calculated as follows:

1. Number of usual hours (178).

2. Subtract the number of actual hours worked (104), giving 74 furlough hours.

The employee is a fixed-pay employee. B Ltd works out 80% of the employee’s usual wages:

1. Start with £2,400 (the wages payable to the employee in the February 2020 pay period – as the employer is claiming for a full pay period, the employer skips to step 4).

2. Divide by the total number of days in the pay period you’re calculating for – this step is skipped.

3. Multiply by the number of furlough days in the pay period (or partial pay period) you’re claiming for – this step is skipped.

4. Multiply by 80% = £1,920.

The employer works out the employee’s minimum furlough pay:

1. Lesser of maximum wage amount (which is £2,500 in this example) and 80% of usual wage (which is £1,920 in this example).

2. Multiply by employee’s furloughed hours, 74.

3. Divide by the employee’s usual hours, 178 = £798.20.

This is the minimum amount that the employee must be paid for the furlough hours (the employee must be paid for the working hours in addition to this, at their full contractual rate). The grant contribution to the furlough pay reduces from 1 July 2021 so a further step is required to calculate how much to claim.

1. Start with the amount of minimum furlough pay, £798.20.

2. Divide by 80.

3. Multiply by 70 (for July 2021) = £698.43.

B Ltd must pay the employee at least £798.20 for the furlough hours and can claim a grant of £698.43 towards this.

For July 2021 no grant is available towards Employer National Insurance Contribution or Employer Pension costs so this is the end of the calculation.

Full example showing how to calculate the amount you should claim for an employee who is flexibly furloughed during August 2021

An employee has worked for C Ltd since 2016, working 40 hours a week. They are paid a monthly salary of £3,000. Pay has not been topped up and there is no bonus, commission or other additional pay.

The employee has been flexibly furloughed since 25 October 2020. C Ltd asks the employee to increase their working hours from 12 August 2020, so in August 2021 the employee works the following amounts:

Week commencing	Working pattern
26 July 2021	No working days in August 2021 (not including days in July 2021)
2 August 2021	1 full day, 4 half days
9 August 2021	2 full days, 3 half days
16 August 2021	3 full days, 2 half days
23 August 2021	4 full days, 1 half day
30 August 2021	1 full day (not including days in July 2021)

No other employees are furloughed in August 2021.

C Ltd prepares its claim for 1 to 31 August 2021. C Ltd cannot claim for any days for July 2021 or September 2021 in this claim. It will later make a separate claim for the September 2021 furlough days.

C Ltd identifies that the maximum wage amount is £2,500 for the claim for this period for this employee. This is not the maximum amount that C Ltd can claim for this period for this employee, but C Ltd needs to identify this for the purposes of the calculation.

The employee’s reference date is 19 March 2020. The wages payable to the employee in the last pay period ending on or before 19 March 2020 (in the February 2020 pay period) was £3,000.

This employee is flexibly furloughed so C Ltd works out the employee’s usual hours. The employee has fixed hours and a salary that does not vary by the number of hours worked and C Ltd identifies the appropriate calculation in the guidance.

The last pay period ending on or before the employee’s reference date (19 March 2020) was the month ending 29 February 2020.

1. The number of hours the employee was contracted for at the end of the last pay period ending on or before the employee’s reference date, the month ending 29 February 2020, was 40 hours per week.

2. Divide by the number of calendar days in the repeating working pattern. It is a weekly pattern, so divide by 7.

3. Multiply by the number of days in the pay period or partial pay period the employer is claiming for. The employee was furloughed throughout all of August 2021, so multiply by 31.

4. This is 177.14 hours which, because it’s calculated for the whole claim period, rounds up to 178 hours.

Next C Ltd calculates the number of working hours and furlough hours. The employee will work 11 half-days and 10 full days (4 and 8 hours respectively) so working hours are 124. Furlough hours are calculated as:

1. Number of usual hours, 178.

2. Subtract the number of actual hours worked, so subtract 124 = 54 furlough hours.

The employee is a fixed-pay employee. C Ltd works out 80% of the employee’s usual wages:

1. Start with £3,000 (the wages payable to the employee in the February 2020 pay period – as the employer is claiming for a full pay period, the employer skips to step 4).

2. Divide by the total number of days in the pay period you’re calculating for – this step is skipped.

3. Multiply by the number of furlough days in the pay period (or partial pay period) you’re claiming for – this step is skipped.

4. Multiply by 80% = £2,400.

The employer works out the employee’s minimum furlough pay:

1. Lesser of maximum wage amount (which is £2,500 in this example) and 80% of usual wage (which is £2,400 in this example).

2. Multiply by employee’s furloughed hours, 54.

3. Divide by the employee’s usual hours, 178 = £728.09.

This is the minimum amount that the employee must be paid for the furlough hours (the employee must be paid for the working hours in addition to this, at their full contractual rate). The grant contribution to the furlough pay reduces from 1 July 2021 so a further step is required to calculate how much to claim.

1. Start with the amount of minimum furlough pay, £728.09.

2. Divide by 80.

3. Multiply by 60 (for August 2021) = £546.07.

C Ltd must pay the employee at least £728.09 for the furlough hours and can claim a grant of £546.07 towards this.

For August 2021 no grant is available towards Employer National Insurance Contribution or Pension costs so this is the end of the calculation.