03/11/20 Furlough Scheme Reinstated for Winter lockdown
Furlough Scheme Reinstated for 2nd National Lockdown
The furlough scheme has been reinstated with the similar conditions as applied in August 2020. The CJRS grant will pay for 80% of the employee’s current wages for time not worked, up to £2,500 per month. The employer must pay for all the employer’s NIC and employer’s minimum workplace pension contributions on those wages.
The employer can top-up the employee’s furlough pay at their own expense, if they wish to.
Furlough claims apply for the period from 1/11/2020 – 30/11/2020, from the date the employee has agreed in a written agreement to a temporary change to their working hours and acceptance of reduced pay, and must reflect the start date of those reduced hours, or stopping work completely.
Revenue correspondence – Please be aware there are numerous checks (not just on the Job Retention Scheme) being sent out in the post by HM Revenue & Customs. They will have deadline dates on and must be answered as a priority.
Employees who were on the employer’s payroll at 30 October 2020 will qualify to be included in CJRS claim for November; they don’t have to have been included in an earlier CJRS claim. The employee must have been paid by the employer, and that pay must have been reported on a RTI return before midnight on 30 October.
Employees on any type of contract can qualify, including zero hours, although more detail on whether contractors or directors are included is expected in the next few days.
Flexi Furlough
Flexible furlough will be permitted alongside full-time furlough, so staff may be brought back part-time to say, set up the premises for the lifting of national restrictions, or to prepare for Brexit.
The same rules for flexible furlough will continue to apply as they have done since 1 July, so the employee may be furloughed for a few days or hours per week. There appears to be no minimum time set for furloughed hours or working hours.
However, each furlough claim must be for a period of at least seven consecutive calendar days.
All employers with a UK bank account can claim support under the extended CJRS, there is no financial test to pass for larger employers as applies for the (now postponed) JSS.
Charities and not-for-profit organisations can also claim in respect of their employees. However, public sector bodies and publicly funded organisations are not expected to use the scheme.
The claim process will be very similar to that which has applied so far under CJRS, the employer will have to report the hours the employee has not worked in a claim period, and the usual hours.
It is not yet clear whether the employee’s pay must be reported on an RTI return before the CJRS grant is submitted for November pay periods. Further details and legislation are expected to be published shortly.
