Chancellor’s Announcement – 5th November 2020
The Chancellor has announced that CJRS, or furlough as it’s known, will be extended until the end of March 2021 for all parts of the UK. For claim periods running to 31 January 2021, the UK Government will pay 80% of employees’ usual wages for hours not worked, up to a cap of £2,500 per month. The UK Government will review the policy in January to decide whether economic circumstances are improving enough to ask employers to contribute more.
It was also confirmed that the Job Retention Bonus will no longer be paid in February 2021, as CJRS will be available at that time. An alternative retention incentive will be put in place at the appropriate time.
What you need to do now
If you intend to claim under the CJRS, please look at information published today on how you can check if you’re eligible to claim, and what you need to agree with your employees. You can find this on GOV.UK by clicking here Extension to the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.
This latest information applies for CJRS claim periods from 1 November 2020. The final date for claims for the period up to 31 October is still 30 November 2020.
The full guidance for claims from November onwards, including more information on how to calculate a claim, will be published on GOV.UK on Tuesday 10th November. Claims can be made from 11 November 2020.
Further support
Guidance and live webinars offering you more support on changes to CJRS, and how they affect you, are available to book online – go to GOV.UK
SYLO | Beyond HR. have a team of highly experienced consultants to help guide you through this time. If you would like to arrange a FREE 30 minute call to see how we can help, contact us now.
Finally – Protect yourself from scams
Stay vigilant about scams, which may mimic government messages as a way of appearing authentic. Search ‘scams’ on GOV.UK for information on how to recognise genuine HMRC contact. You can also forward suspicious emails claiming to be from HMRC to phishing@hmrc.gov.uk and texts to 60599.