Everything You Need To Know About The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme

Job Retention Scheme Key Points

UPDATED: 24.11.2020

HMRC have announced the processes to make a claim under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme. This scheme was put in place to cover a period of 3 months initially, from 1st March 2020, however it has been extended to 31st March 2021 with the government paying up to 80% for hours the employees don't work. Rishi Sunak recently confirmed the scheme will be extended until the end of March, as it stands with a review in January.

Employees can be on any type of employment contract, including full-time, part-time, agency, flexible or zero-hour contracts. Foreign nationals are eligible to be furloughed. Grants under the scheme are not counted as ‘access to public funds’, and you can furlough employees on all categories of visa.

You and your employees do not need to have benefited from the scheme before to claim for periods from 1 November.

What you need to do now.

Submit any claims for periods up to 31 October on or before 30 November – they will not be accepted after this date. Claims are subject to eligibility and the rules in force at the time.

Submit any claims for November, no later than 14 December. You can claim before, during or after you process your payroll as long as your claim is submitted by the deadline.

For claim periods from 1 December, you cannot claim CJRS grants for any days that your employee is serving a contractual or statutory notice period, including notice of retirement or resignation.

Claims deadlines

There are now monthly deadlines for claims. Claims for periods starting on or after 1 November must be submitted within 14 calendar days after the month they relate to, unless this falls on a weekend in which case the deadline is the next weekday. Your deadline to make claims for employees furloughed in November is Monday 14 December.

To check if you are eligible see the HMRC web page here.

If eligible you’ll need to provide the following to make a claim:

1. The bank account number and sort code you’d like the claim payment to be paid into.

2. The name and phone number of the person responsible in your business for HMRC to call with any questions.

3. Your Self-Assessment UTR (Unique Tax Reference), Company UTR or CRN (Company Registration Number).

4. The name, employee number and National Insurance number for each of your furloughed employees.

5. The total amount being claimed for all employees and the total furlough period.

If you already use an agent who is authorised to act for you for PAYE purposes, they will be able to make a claim on your behalf, so get in touch with them now.

However, if you use a file-only agent (files your RTI return but doesn’t act for you in other matters), they won’t be able to make a claim for you and you’ll need the information listed above from your agent to make the claim yourself.

For more detailed advice on the retention scheme, visit HMRC to check their full guidelines on claiming.

You can also view an HMRC webinar on YouTube regarding this.

The online system is active.

If you need help with deciding which route to take regarding the various government help schemes for your business, do get in touch with us. See our other posts on the options various grants and loan support schemes available. If you are self employed, there are SEISS grants to help as well as small company directors.

We understand it's a complex situation, which is why we're happy to help anyone struggling to get their head around which route to take. Give Ben a call to talk through your own situation, and see how he can help point you in the right direction.

Keep Calm & Carry On With Business!

The BR Accounting & Business Services Team.

Everything You Need to Know About The Job Retention Scheme

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