Hot off the press, we have received guidance on the support that the Government is able to provide employers who need to furlough their staff during the nationwide lockdown.
Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme
The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS), which was due to end on 31 October, will now be extended, with the UK government paying 80% of wages for the hours furloughed employees do not work, up to a cap of £2,500 for periods from 1 November.
Employers will need to pay all employer National Insurance Contributions (NICs) and pension contributions. They can choose to top up their furloughed employees’ wages beyond the 80% paid by the UK government for hours not worked, but they are not required to do so.
There will be no gap in support between the previously announced end date of CJRS and this extension. For more information, go to GOV.UK and search ‘furlough scheme extended’.
How will it work?
Our clients will have the flexibility to ask employees to work on a part-time basis and furlough them for the rest of their usual working hours or furlough them full-time. Employers will have to cover their wages for any hours they work as well as all employer National Insurance and employer pension contributions.
Claims can be made either shortly before, during or after running the payroll. There will be a short period initially when the online claims service will be closed while HMRC updates the system, and you will be able to claim in arrears for that period.
Further details will be provided in the next few days. Please do not call us for more information in the meantime – we will let you know via this website as soon as this is available.
How to check if your employees are eligible
Employers can claim for employees who were on their PAYE payroll on 30 October 2020. You or your clients must have made a PAYE Real Time Information (RTI) submission to HMRC between 20 March and 30 October 2020, notifying a payment of earnings for that employee.
If employees were on an employers’ payroll on 23 September 2020 (i.e. notified to HMRC on an RTI submission on or before 23 September) and were made redundant or stopped working for them afterwards, they can also qualify for the scheme if they re-employ them.
Neither the employer nor the employee needs to have previously used the CJRS. Further details on eligibility will be provided in the next few days.
What you need to do now
- Check if your employees are eligible for the scheme, based on the information above.
- Agree working hours with your employees, so they know if they are furloughed fully or part-time during November.
- Keep the records that support the amount of CJRS grant you claim, in case HMRC need to check it. You can view, print or download copies of your previously submitted claims by logging onto your CJRS service on GOV.UK.