Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme Extension
On budget day (or 3 March 2021 for those of you who didn’t have this in the diary) the Chancellor confirmed that the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) will now run until 30 September 2021.
Up to and including 30 June 2021 you can claim, and must pay the employee, 80% of their reference pay for the furloughed hours subject to the monthly, daily or weekly cap.
From 1 July 2021 the scheme will taper off, with employers making a 10% contribution to wages in July, and 20% in August and September. The employee though must still receive the full 80%. An illustration is included below:
The operation of the scheme in most respects will stay the same as in previous versions but there are some notable changes.
What has changed
• Employees do not need to have been furloughed prior to 1 November to be eligible for CJRS version 3. The rules which required an employee to have been furloughed under version 1 of the scheme to access support under version 2, will not apply to version 3.
• The cap on the maximum number of employees who could be furloughed which applied under version 2 of the scheme has been lifted. From 1 November, there is no limit on the number of eligible employees who can be furloughed under version 3
• HMRC are publishing the names of employers who make claims relating to periods from 1 December 2020. HMRC hope that this will act to prevent fraud. It will also now be possible for an employee to check whether their employer has made claims in their name by reviewing their personal tax account.
Updated RTI cut-off dates
For claims ending on or before 30 April 2021:
The employee must have been included on an RTI submission at some point between 20 March and 23:59 on 30 October 2020;
or
If the employee was made redundant or stopped working for the employer, they can be still be furloughed if they were re-employed after 30 October 2020 as long as they were on the employers’ payroll by 23:59 on 23 September 2020.
The extended scheme therefore includes individuals who started work for the employer after 19 March 2020 and who were excluded from earlier schemes.
There are special rules which apply if employees are transferred from another business under TUPE.
For claims starting from 1 May 2021:
Employees must have been on the employer’s payroll for the employee at some point between 20 March 2020 and 2 March 2021.
If you have any questions in relation to making a claim, or assistance with your RTI submissions please get in touch with our new partner Joanne Gibson, Head of Payroll.
