Following last week’s Carluccio’s judgment, the High Court has once again confirmed that administrators are permitted to apply for furlough payments under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS). In the Debenhams case, unlike Carluccio’s, the employees had already been furloughed when the administrators were appointed.
The court in Debenhams said that by virtue of the administrators paying the employees or making an application to the scheme in respect of those employees at any time after 14 days from the appointment, the administrators would be deemed to have adopted the employment contracts. That would enable the administrators to use any funds received under the scheme to pay the employees.
Subject to any appeal or strict guidance on this matter, these decisions provide the clearest guidance on administrators and the CJRS.
