On 17 December 2020, the Chancellor announced a further one-month extension of financial support under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) to the end of April 2021.
Currently, the Government will pay 80% of the salary of employees for hours not worked up to a maximum of £2,500. Employers will only be required to pay wages, National Insurance Contributions (NICs) and pensions for hours worked; and NICs and pensions for hours not worked.
Claims for furloughed employees can only be made for those who were employed and on payroll on 30 October 2020. The employer must have made a PAYE RTI submission to HMRC between 20 March and 30 October 2020, notifying a payment of earnings for that employee. This may differ where an employee has been made redundant, or they stopped working on or after 23 September 2020 and have subsequently been re-employed.
When to make a claim
Claims must be made by the 14th of the following month although they can be made up to 14 days in advance. Another key difference from the previous versions of CJRS is that there is no requirement that the employee was on the payroll at 19 March 2020 or has been previously furloughed. They do however need to be on the payroll and subject to an RTI submission prior to midnight on 30 October 2020.We now have further details of the opertaion of the extention of CJRS “furlough” that will apply from 1 November 2020 through to the end of April 2021. The government support will initially be at the rate of 80% of an employee’s reference pay for hours they are furloughed, subject to a maximum of £2,500 a month.
Reference pay
An employee’s reference pay will depend upon whether or not they were on the payroll and subject to an RTI submission for 2019/20 on or before 19 March 2020. Where that is the case their reference pay will be that used under previous furlough claims. Where the employee has joined since that date or not subject to an RTI submission prior to 19 March the reference pay will generally be that for the last pay period ending before 30 October.
There are exceptions to these rules and complications for those working variable hours and with variable rates of pay.
We can of course assist you with your claims, or alternatively prepare them on your behalf.
If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to get in touch at info@ammu.uk