Changes to the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme from 1st of September

There are some changes to the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme from the 1^st of‌‌‌ ‌September 2020 and this is what it means for you.

What you need to do from 1‌‌‌ ‌September

From 1‌‌‌ ‌September the 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’.

Making sure your data is right

It’s important that you provide all the data needed to process your claims. Payment of employers’ grants may be at risk or delayed if they submit a claim that is incomplete or incorrect.

You 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 are claiming for 100 or more employees, download and use the 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

HMRC have recently updated CJRS guidance to make it easier to find the most relevant, up-to-date information.

If you 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. Don’t give out private information or reply to text messages, and don’t download attachments in emails you weren’t expecting. 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.

Help and support

If you need help with the changes to the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme from the 1^st of September or any other aspect of your payroll contact me now.