Just days after announcing the CJRS starting, Sunak and HM Treasury announced a further extension of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) to 31st March 2021.
It reflects evidence that the economic effects of lockdown for businesses are longer lasting than the duration of any restrictions.
The Government will pay 80% of wages for hours not worked, up to a cap of £2,500.
Employers will pay National Insurance contributions and pension contributions for those hours (as was the case in August 2020).
The scheme will be reviewed in January 2021 to decide whether economic circumstances are improving enough to ask employers to increase contributions.
The Job Retention Bonus will not now be paid in February.
A retention incentive will be deployed at the appropriate time.
Details of the newly extended CJRS are contained in an HMRC policy paper, which sets out updated details on:
eligibility criteria for employers and employees;
what employers will need in order to claim;
updated information on reference data to calculate those claims.
Employers will have flexibility to use the scheme for employees for any amount of time or shift pattern, furloughing employees on either a full-time or part-time basis, and will be able to vary the hours worked in agreement with the employee.
Neither the employer nor the employee needs to have previously claimed or have been claimed for under the CJRS to make a claim under the extended CJRS.
Employer can claim for employees who were employed and on its PAYE payroll on 30 October 2020.
Employees who were made redundant or stopped working after 23 September 2020 can be re-employed and claimed for.
Please also note:
Any flexible furlough or furlough agreement made retrospectively that has effect from 1 November 2020 will be valid for the purposes of a CJRS claim.
Only retrospective agreements put in place up to and including 13 November 2020 may be relied on for the purposes of a CJRS claim.
Claims can be made from 8am on 11 November. Claims made for November must be submitted to HMRC by no later than 14 December 2020.
Claims relating to each subsequent month should be submitted by day 14 of the following month. Further details and guidance on the scheme will be published on 10 November.
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