Job retention scheme latest news, 24 August 2020

HMRC’s CJRS guidance has been updated since last week.

The recent guidance changes include a link to the previous ‘CJRS1’ guidance which applied for claims up to an including 31 July 2020. The updated guidance is available at:-

• https://www.gov.uk/guidance/claim-for-wage-costs-through-the-coronavirus-job-retention-scheme
• https://www.gov.uk/guidance/if-youve-claimed-too-much-or-not-enough-from-the-coronavirus-job-retention-scheme

HMRC also sent out a reminder of the changes to the CJRS which take effect from 1 September which is just over two weeks away.

“What you or your clients need to do from 1‌‌‌ ‌September.

• From 1‌‌‌ ‌September CJRS will pay 70% of usual wages up to a cap of £2,187.50 per month for the hours furloughed employees do not work.
• Employers will still need to pay furloughed employees 80% of their usual wages for the hours they do not work, up to a cap of £2,500 per month. Employers will need to fund the difference between this and the CJRS grant themselves.
• The caps are proportional to the hours not worked. For example, if an employee is furloughed for half their usual hours in September, employers are entitled to claim 70% of their usual wages for the hours they do not work up to £1,093.75 (50% of the £2,187.50 cap).
• Employers will continue to have to pay furloughed employees’ National Insurance (NI) and pension contributions from their own funds.

Further guidance and live webinars offering you more support on changes to the scheme and how they impact you or your clients are available to book online – go to GOV‌.UK and search 'help and support if your business is affected by coronavirus'. 

We are still receiving very high demand on our phone lines and webchat, so the quickest way to find the support you may need is on GOV‌.UK. This will leave our phone lines and webchat service open for those who need them most. 

Making sure your data is right

It’s important that you or your clients provide all the data we need to process your claims. Payment of employers’ grants may be at risk or delayed if they submit a claim that is incomplete or incorrect, so we want to help them get this right. We will get in touch if we see any employee data missing from previous claims.

You or your clients can find everything you’ll need to help make a claim on GOV‌.UK, including a useful calculator and guidance on the data you need to provide and the format you need to use to ensure your claim is accepted. Search for ‘claim for wages through the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme’.

If you or your clients are claiming for 100 or more employees, please download and use our template as this will help you make sure your data is right – search 'download a template if you're claiming for 100 or more employees through the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme' on GOV‌.UK.

Finding previous CJRS guidance

We’ve recently updated our CJRS guidance to make it easier to find the most relevant, up-to-date information.

If you or your clients need to check older guidance – for example information for your claims ending on or before 30 June – you can search 'check if you can claim for your employees' wages through the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme' or 'check which employees you can put on furlough to use the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme' on GOV‌.UK. A link to previous guidance can be found in boxes at the top of these pages.

Protect yourself from scams  

Stay vigilant about scams, which may mimic government messages as a way of appearing authentic and unthreatening. 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.”