Furloughed - Company Activity

[northernladuk]

No mention of dividends, so appears there are no restrictions.

Which is what we said.

[CheeseSlice]

Isn't creating awareness of your company brand called marketing?

I think if you can make the tweeting or Linkedin posting something that promotes the success of the company, then you're actually carrying out one of your statutory duties as a director.

7 duties of a company director

Promoting the success of the company

The duty states a director must act in a way that they consider, in good faith, would be most likely to promote the success of the company for the benefit of its members (shareholders) as a whole. When making decisions, directors must also consider the likely consequences for various stakeholders, including employees, suppliers, customers and communities. They should also consider the impact on the environment, the reputation of the company, company success in the longer term and all of the shareholders (including minority shareholders).

I think tweeting or posting on Linkedin about how your company is still here and ready to spring back from the Covid-19 lockdown, or perhaps helping with the response, or even how it has previously helped a customer achieve a goal, could be considered promoting the success of the company. You're protecting the value of the company for its shareholders, and its viability to carry on trading once covid-19 is all over.

[DSF70]

Would running payroll also be in that category i.e. you want to make sure everything is no a standing order?

Now, isn't this all a case where having someone else (e.g. spouse) as company secretary or unpaid director is actually quite beneficial? They could do all these sorts of things living you no requirement to do anything (officially).

Surely the point of furloughing your employee, is to claim the 80% / £2500 (paid into your business account) so that you can continue to pay them their paye (or agreed new paye amount)?

[MPwannadecentincome]

Surely the point of furloughing your employee, is to claim the 80% / £2500 (paid into your business account) so that you can continue to pay them their paye (or agreed new paye amount)?

running payroll counts as official director's responsibilities

[PerfectStorm]

Isn't creating awareness of your company brand called marketing?

Getting tied up in theory...

The restriction is against revenue generating activity. I could tweet 24/7 for a year and no payments will be made.

[d000hg]

Getting tied up in theory...

The restriction is against revenue generating activity. I could tweet 24/7 for a year and no payments will be made.

So a director keeping in touch with clients and furloughed employees would be reasonable in your view?

[northernladuk]

So a director keeping in touch with clients and furloughed employees would be reasonable in your view?

Employees of course. Clients could be problematic. The minute you start talking about work it could fail the test. You could ring them, ask if everyone is safe and chat about your situation but making any kind of arrangements or chatting about the service is beyond a directors basic obligations I'd say.

[Paralytic]

So a director keeping in touch with clients and furloughed employees would be reasonable in your view?

Employees of course. Clients could be problematic. The minute you start talking about work it could fail the test. You could ring them, ask if everyone is safe and chat about your situation but making any kind of arrangements or chatting about the service is beyond a directors basic obligations I'd say.

I agree with NLUK here, but also think, who is going to know or care, so long as you're not overtly trading.

I think the test I'd apply is whether something I did directly or indirectly earned income for the company, even if that income was received after the furlough period. In my view, that crosses the line into fraud (not necessarily on a legal level) as I'd both be earning income and claiming benefits for the same period of time.

[PerfectStorm]

YouTube

[northernladuk]

YouTube

5.25 when he gets to the conflicting advice from two gov depts..

Designing advertising leaflets and posting future jobs on line. He might have got conflicting advice but that's not grey at all surely. One is a role someone carries out in the business for purpose of creating revenue in the long run. Nothing like the basics of a directors duties.

He's also said it's probably acceptable in the bigger scheme just as paralytic says.

Interesting comments about going freelancing and not running it through your business though. Might work for some but sounds open to abuse to me.