The Treasury has confirmed that a director/shareholder of a company who receives their remuneration by way of salary and dividend will be entitled to be furloughed and to claim the relevant subsidy under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme. However, there are restrictions:
- The subsidy will only apply to the salary element; no claim can be made in relation to dividends;
- Whilst staff on furloughed leave cannot do any work for their employer, directors may continue to perform their statutory duties as officeholders
In practice, this means that directors cannot be doing any work which would raise revenue, so keeping in touch with clients or customers would not be permitted.