It will not have escaped your notice that the country is about to go into its second period of lockdown on the 5th of November.
In the recent announcement, the government have said they will be extending the ‘Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme’ (CJRS), otherwise known as ‘The Furlough Scheme’. Furlough in November 2020 will run ‘until December’. We do not have information of when in December, but will update as we receive more information.
How will it work?
This will be back in line with the position of the scheme around August 2020. The employee will receive 80% of their wages, fully funded by the government. The employer will still have to pay for any employers National Insurance and pension contributions.
There will be a cap of £2500 per employee per month as before.
The scheme that was due to be the replacement for the CJRS, The Job Support Scheme, is on hold for now. This is good news as the new scheme was far less favourable for employers.
The law isn’t out at the time of writing, but in terms of timing, there is no gap between ‘old’ furlough and the extension. You can use it from 1st November 2020.
How can I claim?
The claim process for furlough in November 2020 will most likely be the same as before, via the HMRC online portal.
There is no confirmed date on when a claim can be made, more information when we get it.
We anticipate that this may mean the employer will fund the first month and payment to be made in arrears.
What about any new hires?
To claim for an employee, they had to be on payroll and have had data submitted to HMRC by 23:59 on 30th October.
This seems harsh if an employer did their pay run on the 31st (Saturday, as many might). Unfortunately, any new employees you want to furlough after this date will not qualify.
The employee does not have to have been furloughed before to be furloughed this time. There is conflicting information on some HMRC website pages; we presume these just haven’t been updated yet!
New employers can also now claim, providing HMRC have the data from the employee as above.
Whilst business having further restrictions is never good news for their finances, this at least is some welcome news.
Stay tuned for any updates.