Last updated: 08 April 2020
00:00 – So let’s talk about being furloughed for now and a company directors specifically. Cause most of my clients are company directors and in charge of their own businesses, which we act for and work for and coach. So let’s just talk to this specific group of people for this. So. I’m just looking at a bit of inland revenue guidance and I want to just make sure you’re aware of it, that uh, office holders, company directors are eligible to be furloughed and received support from the scheme.
Now they make the, they make the understanding that company directors owe duty to their companies would just sit out in the company’s ax 2006 now these are the, this is the legislation that you are responsible for looking after your company. And there are certain things a director has to do for their company.
01:00 – And so this is where this sits. So where, and it says, then goes and say, where a company acting through its motive directors. Now that may only be you in the board of directors. You don’t have to have multiple directors to be a board. You could be the only director on the board. Uh, you consider that it is in, uh, in compliance with the statute.
Gigi said one or more of the individual salary directors can decide that directors could be furloughed so you can decide you should be followed. Okay. There’s nothing to say that just because you’re the only director you can be followed. Now, if you all followed all the director that is being furloughed is furlough and they are responsible for carrying out some of these duties that are set out in the company’s act that they’re responsible for, responsible for, they can continue to do those duties.
So the, you know that there is a duty to keep good records, right? So if you can’t obviously go and start making cells that’s not keeping good records, but keeping good records is keeping, you know, a note of all the expenses that are going through on a direct debit. It’s keeping a
02:00 – manner, looking at your bank details and giving them, if we’re doing your bookkeeping, which we do for a lot of our clients, you can make sure you send us the information so we can keep your books up to date.
Because. You have a duty to keep your books up to date. All right? And so if you don’t keep your books up to date, you’re not complying with the legislation. So you’ve got to keep good records. And that also means records of, you know, there’s change in officers or whatever, or minutes of meetings and lots of stuff.
So, but you mustn’t do anything more than is absolutely necessary to fulfill your statutory duties. So, uh, if you also, if you have your own personal company, if you’re the only director and a personal service company, you also have the same rules, right? You can follow yourself. Remember, the date is the 1st of March.
03:00 – If your business. Uh, stops. If your income stopped from the 1st of March, you can deem that that would be your effective follow dates. So keep that in mind. It’s really important, but like I said, you can raise invoices you for work you’ve done before, then you can to make sure that you’re keeping good books and records.
You can record money coming in and going out of your bank account automatically because you are required to keep good books and records under the company’s act. And, uh, that will be fulfilling your statutory duties, but you mustn’t go out take, you mustn’t take, uh, calls from prospective clients. You, if you’re furloughed, if you decide not to be photoed because you want to continue taking calls from prospective clients, which is a completely legitimate way of, of carrying on, but you can’t claim the furlough.
A subsidy as well as you start earning more money by looking at, uh, talking to potential clients, having meetings, uh, doing quotes, all of that is unnecessary compare for the statutory duties. And so if you wanted to do all of that, you could not be furloughed.
04:00 – So let’s just be clear on that. You’ve got to do the absolute minimum to fulfill your stature duties and your statuary duties is not to make money.
It is to keep the company records running. It’s to keep the company a filing done, but it’s not to go out and make more sales. That’s not a statutory duty. That is a function of business, but don’t a saturated GD. So you can’t do that. You can’t answer emails from plans and stuff that you can review. In my opinion.
You can review emails for anything that could affect your stature, GG. You could, you know, if you don’t check your emails or your posts, how are you going to know that there’s no legal requirements for you to deal with? And while you’re furloughed so you’ve got, you can review it. But remember, you count sir, uh, clients and potential clients if you’re furloughed.
05:00 – If that’s a decision you’ve made. And so what I’d recommend is you put an automated response in your email to see your, you’re furloughed, you’re only allowed to do statutory duties. You will get back and you intend to get back in whatever date. You may have a three week follow in one week. No fellow in three week follow in one week, no fellow or even one day, no follow.
And then follow again. So you may say, uh, you know, I’m followed until the. Let’s see, today’s the 7th of April. So let’s say you’re furloughed until the 28th of April. So you’ll be working, you’ll be answering all the emails on the 29th where you will not be followed, and from the 30th of April, you follow again for another three weeks.
So that’s the sort of way you can do it. There’s nothing wrong with that, but you are getting paid for the one day that you’re not furloughed and then you follow give through weeks where you don’t do anything. Anyway. Okay, so you can’t, you can’t do that, so please don’t fall foul of it just because you’ve been gone.
Nobody’s going to know. It will be audited. And if you are audited, not only will you have the money back, that may be, you know, there’s all this public shaming stuff and it’s just not the right thing to do. Let’s put it that way.
06:00 – And there will be penalties, I’m sure if, if all of these and the fines and all sorts of stuff, or like, uh, hopefully that helps understand the, uh, the Dow furlough and company directors, I think in it is, it’s, it’s a, it’s a weird one.
Right. We haven’t been here before, so let’s work together and make sure we get it right. Okay. Um, my name is Barry Pickett and I’ve been with Gordon four nitty 10 years, 11 years now. So I think generally on the hallways, business is grown and it’s, uh, customer services impeccable. Always and Germany, you always get a response fast, um, and the right responses, and it’s fair and it’s always good quality advice.
