In light of the increased restrictions needed to curb the coronavirus pandemic, the UK government is introducing additional economic measures to support your business:
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.
You will need to pay all employer National Insurance Contributions (NICs) and pension contributions. You can choose to top up your furloughed employees’ wages beyond the 80% paid by the UK government for hours not worked, but you are not required to do so.
Please note flexible furloughing will be allowed in addition to full-time furloughing.
There will be no gap in support between the previously announced end date of CJRS and this extension.
- How to check if your employees are eligible
You can claim for employees who were on your PAYE payroll on 30 October 2020. You must have made a PAYE Real Time Information (RTI) submission to HMRC between 20 March 2020 and 30 October 2020, notifying a payment of earnings for that employee.
If employees were on your 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 you afterwards, they can also qualify for the scheme if you re-employ them.
Neither you nor your 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
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- 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.
Job Support Scheme
The new Job Support Scheme, which was due to start on Sunday 1 November, has now been postponed.
Business Grants
Businesses required to close in England due to local or national restrictions will be eligible for the following:
- For properties with a rateable value of £15k or under, grants to be £1,334 per month, or £667 per two weeks;
- For properties with a rateable value of between £15k-£51k grants to be £2,000 per month, or £1,000 per two weeks;
- For properties with a rateable value of £51k or over grants to be £3,000 per month, or £1,500 per two weeks.
