The furlough scheme was due to end on 31 October, but at 7pm that day the Government announced an extension to the scheme to coincide with the new restrictions affecting all areas in England from 5 November 2020.
The revised coronavirus job retention scheme (CJRS-3) will apply to wages/ salaries paid in the period 1 November to 2 December 2020 inclusive. The grants can be claimed by businesses throughout the UK, although the new coronavirus restrictions only apply in England. The Job Support Schemes we outlined on 29 October will now come into effect on 3 December, also for the whole of the UK.
The CJRS-3 grant will pay for 80% of the employee’s “current wages” for their furloughed time, up to £2,500 per month. The employer must pay for all of the employer’s class 1 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.
We don’t have the detailed rules yet on how the CJRS-3 claims will be calculated, for example we don’t know what reference pay the 80% figure will be based on. But we do know that any employee can be included in a claim if their pay was reported by that employer under RTI before midnight on 30 October 2020. Also, employees on the payroll at 23 September 2020 can be included in a claim, even if they were made redundant after that date and reinstated.
Employees may be flexibly furloughed as has been possible since 1 July. Thus, employees may be asked to work part-time or for a short period to say help prepare the business for the end of the Brexit transitional period on 31 December.
Each CJRS-3 claim must be made for a period of at least seven days, and may be submitted within 14 days from the end of the pay period. The grant should be paid to the employer within six days of the application being received.
Written by the Tax Advice Network