As of Monday 20th April, employers can now apply to the UK Government’s Job Retention Scheme to receive funding for furloughed employees.
This initiative will provide up to 80% of the cost of retaining staff (including apprentices) who would otherwise have had to be laid off because of the Coronavirus. Due to the lockdown period being continued for another three weeks the scheme has now been extended to cover staff salaries until the end of June 2020.
The HMRC portal to apply for the scheme can be accessed here
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/coronavirus-job-retention-scheme-up-and-running
Guidance notes can be found here
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/claim-for-wages-through-the-coronavirus-job-retention-scheme