Over the last few days there has been an important announcement regarding furlough leave and whether employers can use the government scheme to pay for notice periods. In short, the answer is no for claim periods starting on or after 1 December 2020. An employer cannot claim for any days on or after that day during which the employee was serving a contractual or statutory notice period for the employer. This includes people who have given notice by way of resignation and those who have been given notice, by their employer, of termination of employment by reason of redundancy (or any other reason).