UK Visas and Immigration information on Furlough scheme

UK Visas and Immigration: - "You can only claim for furloughed employees that were on your PAYE payroll on or before 28 February 2020. Employees hired after 28 February 2020 cannot be furloughed and claimed for in accordance with this scheme. Employees can be on any type of employment contract, including full-time, part-time, agency, flexible or zero-hour contracts. Foreign nationals are eligible to be furloughed. Grants under the scheme are not counted as ‘access to public funds’, and you can furlough employees on all categories of visa. To be eligible for the grant, when on furlough, an employee cannot undertake work for, or on behalf, of the organisation or any linked or associated organisation. This includes providing services or generating revenue. Employers are free to consider allocating any critical business tasks to staff that are not furloughed. While on furlough, the employee’s wage will be subject to usual income tax and other deductions."

UK Visas and Immigration have also said: "If sponsors cannot pay the salaries of sponsored employees because they have temporarily reduced or ceased trading:

•  Sponsors can temporarily reduce the pay of their sponsored employees to 80% of their salary or £2,500 per month, whichever is the lower. 
•   Any reductions must be part of a company-wide policy to avoid redundancies and in which all workers are treated the same. 
•  These reductions must be temporary, and the employee’s pay must return to at least previous levels once these arrangements have ended."
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Further guidance for Tier 2, 4 and 5 visa sponsors can be found on gov.uk.