I am a Tier 1 Entrepreneur and need to furlough my staff. How will this affect my ability to meet the job creation requirement?

Home Office guidance has confirmed that you no longer need to employ at least 2 people for 12 consecutive months each. The 12 month period you are required to employ someone for can be made up of multiple employees across different months.

Guidance has also confirmed that time when your employees are furloughed will count towards the 12 month period required for job creation, as long as they were paid at least 80% of their normal salary.

If you are unable to meet the job creation requirements at the time that your visa expires, you can apply to temporarily extend your stay to give you time to meet the requirement. You must still be able to show that you created 2 job by the date you applied, and were unable to meet the 12 month requirement due to Covid. If you have concerns about your ability to meet the job creation requirement and the implications of this then you should take expert advice from one of our team.