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Furlough deadline of 10 June won't apply to maternity returners

Employees who return from statutory maternity and paternity leave will be eligible for furlough even after the 10 June cut off, provided that they work for an employer who has previously furloughed employees under the scheme.

An obvious flaw in the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme is that those returning from maternity leave post 10 June will not have been furloughed for three weeks by 30 June (when the current scheme closes to new entrants) and therefore could not benefit from the wage protection under the scheme.

On 9 June the Chancellor announced that parents on statutory maternity and paternity leave ‘who return to work in the coming months after a long period of absence’ can be furloughed. This will also apply to those on adoption leave, shared parental leave and parental bereavement leave. This will however only apply where they work for an employer who has previously furloughed employees. More details of this change are promised on 12 June when further details of the flexi-furlough scheme will also be published.