Coronavirus Job Retention and Self-Employment Income Support Schemes
Following a turbulent week of announcements, updates and changes resulting from the ongoing pandemic, the UK Government announced on Thursday 5th November additional, more generous changes to the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme and the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme. Our emails from earlier in the week are now out of date in respect of these schemes. New guidance can be found below. We plan to keep providing updates as and when Government guidance changes. CFW are dedicated to remaining up to date on the latest guidance, so should you have any queries or would like to clarify anything please contact your engagement partner or message us via our website contact page.
Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS)
The CJRS has been extended until 31 March 2021.
For claims covering November 2020, December 2020 and January 2021 furloughed employees will receive 80% of their usual salary for hours not worked, up to a maximum of £2,500 per month. The £2,500 cap is proportional to the hours not worked. Employers will be able to reclaim the 80% paid to furloughed employees via the CJRS but will still be responsible for paying Employers National Insurance and Employers Pension contributions. The government will review the policy in January to decide what the CJRS will cover during February and March 2021.
Employers can make a claim for employees if the employee meets the following criteria. The employee:
- was employed and on the business PAYE payroll on 30 October 2020;
- must have included on a PAYE Real Time Information (RTI) submission to HMRC between the 20 March 2020 and 30 October 2020.
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. Employees do not need to have been furloughed under the CJRS previously, in order to be furloughed from 1 November 2020.
Employees that were employed and on the payroll on 23 September 2020 who were made redundant or stopped working for their employer afterwards can be re-employed and claimed for. The employer must have made a PAYE Real Time Information (RTI) submission to HMRC from 20 March 2020 to 23 September 2020, notifying a payment of earnings for those employees.
Employers will be able to claim from the grants from 8am on Wednesday 11 November 2020. Claims relating to November 2020 must be made by 14 December 2020 and claims relating to each subsequent month should be submitted by day 14 of the following month. The closing date for claims up to and including 31 October remains 30 November 2020.
The launch of the Job Support Scheme (JSS) has been postponed because of the extension to the CJRS.
The Job Retention Bonus (JRB) will not be paid in February 2021 as previously planned. The purpose of the JRB was to encourage employers to keep people in work until the end of January however, as the CJRS is now being extended to 31 March 2021, the policy intent of the JRB no longer applies.
The latest Government guidance on the extension to the Coronavirus Job Retentions Scheme can be found here.
Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS)
Under the SEISS there are 2 further grant periods remaining. These run 1 November 2020 until 31 January 2021 and 1 February 2021 until 30 April 2021. The amount of grant that can be claimed has been increased.
The grant for the 3 months ending 31 January 2021 has been increased to 80% of an average of 3 monthly trading profits, paid out in a single instalment and capped at £7,500 in total. This increase is to align the SEISS with the CJRS. The Government is to set out further details, including the level, of the grant covering 1 February 2021 to 30 April 2021 in due course.
To be eligible for the grant extension self-employed individuals, including members of partnerships, must:
- have been previously eligible for the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme first and second grant;
- declare that they intend to continue to trade.
Individuals do not have to have applied for the first 2 grants to apply for these latest grants. As with the initial grants, the applications must be made by the person who the grant is for. Accountants and tax agents have not been given the facility to make the claims on behalf of their clients. The online service for the next grant will be available from 30 November 2020.
The latest Government guidance on the extension to the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme can be found here.
CFW Services
CFW has a dedicated payroll department that has continued to support our clients throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. We have prepared CJRS claims for our clients using our payroll services and will continue to do so. We continue to provide support and advice for all our clients on all COVID-19 financial support measures. Please get in touch should you require any support or advice on the extended CJRS or any other payroll matter.
Links
Our previous updates can be found on Facebook and LinkedIn or on our website blog.
A UK Government general COVID-19 support website can be found here. It contains guidance on all matters pertaining to the Coronavirus.
