The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) Has Been Extended – Job Support Scheme (JSS) Postponed

Following the announcement by the Prime Minister on the 31 October regarding the new lockdown in England for the commencing 4 November, and the subsequent announcement by the Chancellor on 5^th November, the CJRS has been extended until 31^st March.

The Grant will ensure employees receive 80% of their current salary for hours not worked, up to a maximum of £2,500.

Businesses will have flexibility to bring furloughed employees back to work on a part time basis or furlough them full-time, employers will be asked to cover National Insurance and employer pension contributions.

As with the current CJRS, employers are still able to choose to top up employee wages above the scheme grant at their own expense if they wish.

The Government have confirmed that claims can first be made from 11^th November in respect of employee wage costs for periods commencing from 1^st November, but there will be no gap in eligibility for support between the previously announced end-date of CJRS and this extension.

The JSS, which was scheduled to come in on Sunday 1st November, has been postponed at least until the furlough scheme ends.

Who is eligible to claim the CJRS?

Employers

All employers with a UK bank account and UK PAYE schemes can claim the grant. Neither the employer nor the employee needs to have previously used the CJRS.

The government expects that publicly funded organisations will not use the scheme, as has already been the case for CJRS, but partially publicly funded organisations may be eligible where their private revenues have been disrupted. All other eligibility requirements apply to these employers.

Employees

• To be eligible to be claimed for under this extension, employees must be on an employer’s PAYE payroll by 30th October 2020. This means a Real Time Information (RTI) submission notifying payment for that employee to HMRC must have been made on or before 30th October 2020.

As under the current CJRS rules:

• Employees can be on any type of contract. Employers will be able to agree any working arrangements with employees.
• Employers can claim the grant for the hours their employees are not working, calculated by reference to their usual hours worked in a claim period. Such calculations will broadly follow the same methodology as currently under the CJRS.
• When claiming the CJRS grant for furloughed hours, employers will need to report and claim for a minimum period of 7 consecutive calendar days.
• Employers will need to report hours worked and the usual hours an employee would be expected to work in a claim period.
• For worked hours, employees will be paid by their employer subject to their employment contract and employers will be responsible for paying the tax and NICs due on those amounts.
• Employees made redundant or who stopped working for the employer on or after 23^rd September may be re-hired and immediately placed on furlough.
• Furlough arrangements must be confirmed in writing and can be retrospectively applied to 1^st November, so long as this is done by 13^th This will ensure no gaps in eligibility for employees.
• Further guidance will be published on 10^th

What does this mean for the Job Retention Bonus?

The Job Retention Bonus will not be paid in February 2021 and a retention incentive will be deployed at an appropriate time.  The purpose of the JRB was to encourage employers to keep people in work until the end of the January.  However, as the CJRS is now being extended to 31^st March 2021, the policy intent of the JRB no longer applies.

OTHER MEASURES

 Mortgage payment holidays

Mortgage payment holidays will no longer end 31 October. Borrowers who have been impacted by coronavirus and have not yet had a mortgage payment holiday will be entitled to a six month holiday, and those that have already started a mortgage payment holiday will be able to top up to six months without this being recorded on their credit file.

The FCA will announce further information and we will update you when we have seen it.

Business Grants

Businesses required to close in England due to local or national restrictions will be eligible for the following:

• For properties with a rateable value of £15k or under, grants to be £1,334 per month, or £667 per two weeks;
• For properties with a rateable value of between £15k-£51k grants to be £2,000 per month, or £1,000 per two weeks;
• For properties with a rateable value of £51k or over grants to be £3,000 per month, or £1,500 per two weeks.

Business grant policy is fully devolved. Devolved Administrations will receive funding which they could use to establish similar schemes.

Government loan schemes

More businesses will also be able to benefit from government loan schemes which have been extended to the end of January 2021, while firms can ‘top up’ existing Bounce Back Loans should they need additional finance.

Stay safe and rest assured we will keep all our clients fully informed of the new measures and how to claim as we get further details.