Table of contents

  1. Using this guide
  2. Clinically extremely vulnerable
  3. Coronavirus and COVID-19
  4. Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme
  5. Deaths and COVID-19
  6. Furlough
  7. Local lockdowns and restrictions
  8. Lockdown
  9. Long COVID
  10. New variants of the coronavirus
  11. NHS Test and Trace
  12. Outbreak or pandemic
  13. Pre-coronavirus and pre-lockdown
  14. Quarantine
  15. R number
  16. Self Employment Income Support Scheme Grants
  17. Self-isolation
  18. Shielding
  19. Social distancing
  20. Spread
  21. Support bubble
  22. Vaccines and vaccinations 
  23. Waves

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Furlough

Furlough generally means a temporary leave of absence from work. The employee remains employed with the business and on the payroll but does not work. This term was used during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic to refer to employees who had been furloughed as they could not work because of lockdown restrictions. 

The UK government provided financial support to employers and businesses through the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, also known as the Furlough Scheme. This allowed businesses that had been severely affected by the coronavirus pandemic to furlough their staff. When furloughed, an employee received 80% of their current salary for hours not worked, up to a maximum of £2,500. 

Under the more flexible second and third phases of the Furlough Scheme, employees could either stop working completely or work reduced hours while furloughed.