Oct 2020

Beyond Furlough: Important updates – New Job Support Scheme

Figures announced have advised that under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) HMRC have already paid out £39.3 billion to employers up until 20th September 2020, an increase of £4.9 billion from £35.4 billion that was paid out to employers up until 16th August 2020. 9.6 million employees still have been furloughed and the amount of employers claiming under the CJRS remained at 1.2 million.

In October, only 60% of the wages up to a maximum of £1,875 in the month can be claimed under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme and employers must pay the additional 20% to ensure employees are receiving 80%. Employers must also pay employers’ National Insurance and employers’ pension contribution costs. As the CJRS comes to an end on 31st October 2020, employers must submit all claims under this scheme on HMRC’s online portal by 30th November 2020.

HMRC has confirmed that if an employee is on jury duty and is being paid by their employer while on jury duty, the employer can submit a claim for wages paid under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme. HMRC have advised “The employee is furloughed, so is not doing any work for their employer or doing anything of benefit for them. They are doing work for a third party, but that’s allowable under CJRS (whether voluntary or paid)”.

When flexible furlough was introduced on 1st July 2020, approximately 950,000 employees returned to work on a part time basis which was equal to 20% of employees that were furloughed nationwide.

HMRC have started to send letters regarding Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme claims to approximately 3,000 employers who HMRC believe may have overclaimed for payments under the scheme. HMRC estimate that there could be a figure of up to £3.6 billion claimed wrongly or fraudulently under the CRJS and there are 27,000 cases being examined by HMRC at present where an overclaim may have occurred. There have been a number of arrests due to fraud relating to the CJRS, one being for an amount of nearly £495,000.

As soon as we know more, we will be updating our online help guides, and join our webinar on 18th November where we will be able to show you the Job Support Scheme in more detail, along with how it is actioned in the payroll software.

Webinar: New Job Support Scheme Explained

18th November – 10.30am

In this webinar, we look at what you need to know about the new Job Support Scheme, including which employees are eligible, the level of government funding, and how the scheme is actioned through payroll. We will also explore the rise in redundancies and the new changes regarding statutory redundancy and notice pay for furloughed employees. Register now.

What you'll learn:

• Everything you need to know about the Job Support Scheme
• Which employers and employees are eligible
• How to operate the Job Support Scheme
• How BrightPay’s Job Support Scheme Calculator & Claim Report works
• How to calculate notice pay and redundancy pay for furloughed employees
• How to keep in touch with employees on reduced hours

Register now.