October 2020 Coronavirus Employer Update

The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme Bonus (CJRSB)

The detailed regulations provide the following information:The detailed regulations provide the following information:

  • A bonus of £1,000 per qualifying employee can be claimed under the CJRSB scheme
  • A qualifying employee is one who meets the following conditions:
    • A claim under the job retention scheme has been made for them (i.e. they have been furloughed & their employer has made a claim for them under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.)
    • Remains employed by the same employer between the end of their furlough period until at least 31 January 2021
    • Has been paid at least once in each tax month between 6 November 2020 & 5 February 2021 & earnt at least £1,560 in total for that 3-month period
    • Has not handed in their notice or been given notice as at 31 January 2021
  • Claims under the CJRSB scheme must be made between 15 February 2021 & 31 March 2021
  • All RTI submissions of payroll data must be made on time

The Job Support Scheme (JSS)

The JSS was announced in September as part of the Chancellor’s winter economy plan. All small and medium enterprises with a UK PAYE scheme & bank account can access the scheme for qualifying employees.

A qualifying employee is one who was on their employer’s payroll on or before 23 September 2020. (This means that a Real Time Information submission notifying payment to that employee must have been made on or before 23 September.)

For the first three months of the scheme (November 2020 to January 2021) the employee must work at least 33% of their “usual hours” & their employer will pay them their contracted rate for these hours. For the employee’s “usual hours” not worked, the Government & the employer will pay a third each, meaning that employees will receive at least 77% of their “normal wage”.

The Government guidance currently states that their “expectation is that employers cannot top-up their employees’ wages above the two-thirds contribution to hours not worked at their own expense.”

The Government contribution will be capped at £697.92 per employee per month & will not cover Employer’s National Insurance (NI) or pension contributions, which will remain payable by the employer.

The calculations of “usual hours” & “usual wages” will be similar to those for the Coronavirus Job Retention (furlough) scheme. For any employee who has been furloughed, their “usual sage” will be based on their underlying rate not what they have been paid while they were on furlough.

It will be important to ensure that your employee’s “usual hours” have been calculated correctly so that you can ensure they work enough hours to qualify for the scheme.

Employees will be able to cycle on & off the scheme & do not have to work the same hours each month, however, each short-time working arrangement between the employer & the employee must be in writing & cover a minimum period of seven days.

Employees cannot be made redundant or put on notice of redundancy during the period within which their employer is claiming under the JSS for them.

Claims will be made online & paid on a monthly basis. Claims for a pay period cannot be submitted until after the employee’s pay has been reported to HMRC as part of the usual wages process.

The scheme will run for a further three months until April 2021, but the Government have yet to announce what the minimum hours threshold will be for this period.

Job Support Scheme Expansion

The JSS will be expanded in areas of the UK where businesses are required to close due to either local or national coronavirus restrictions.

Under the expanded scheme, the Government will pay 67% of employees’ salaries, leaving the employer only required to pay the associated employer NI & pension contributions.

This scheme also begins on 1 November & will run for six months with a review point in January in line with the rest of the JSS.