COVID-19 news
Updated CJRS guidance SEVERAL GUIDANCE pages on GOV.UK for the CJRS have been updated. The following pages were updated to reflect there is no right of appeal for those not eligible for the CJRS: ● Check if your employer can use the CJRS (http://bit. ly/3jyR6YO) ● Check if you can claim for your employees’ wages through the CJRS (http://bit.ly/2R6yYIF) ● Calculate how much you can claim using the CJRS (http://bit.ly/3cZXVRR) ● Claim for wages through the CJRS (http://bit. ly/3q82ddN). The page ‘Steps to take before calculating your claim’ (http://bit.ly/373AyTM) provides in the section ‘What to include when calculating wages’, further details of what must not be included when calculating the wages to claim for, as follows: ● non-monetary benefits, such as benefits in kind (e.g. a company car), which includes those benefits received in exchange for pay under a salary sacrifice arrangement ● employer pension contributions, including those in exchange for pay under a salary sacrifice arrangement. New content has been added to the guidance to include the ‘averaging calculation method’ and the ‘calendar lookback calculation method’. The following table has been provided, to help claimants establish to which period they look back.
CJRS calculator error IN EARLY February, HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) announced that an error identified in the software for the coronavirus job retention scheme (CJRS) calculator had been rectified. Apologising for the error, HMRC advised that users of the calculator may have to recalculate claims if: ● they were made prior to 21 January 2021, and ● the employees being claimed for were not on a fixed salary, and ● instead of using reference pay for January 2020, pay for January 2019 was used, and the pay was different in January 2019 to January 2020. No action is needed, however, if January 2020 pay was used. If a claim for too much has been submitted, this can be corrected in the next CJRS claim submission or alternatively repayment made online (see http://bit.ly/3712vvl for guidance). If a claim for too little was submitted, claimants were expected to call the HMRC helpline to get this corrected by 1 March 2021. Treasury direction for CJRS A TREASURY Direction made late January 2021 under provisions of the Coronavirus Act 2020, extends the CJRS so that it applies for the period commencing 1 February 2021 and ending 30 April 2021, at which time it is intended to close. Recognising that the CJRS was originally implemented in March 2020, the Direction amends the rules that govern how to calculate both reference salary and usual hours for certain claim periods. When calculating furlough claims relating to both March 2021 and April 2021, for those variably paid the earnings of March 2019 and April 2019 will be used to calculate the figure, or the pay over the past twelve months, whichever is higher. This has also been confirmed in guidance here: http://bit.ly/3aPncLX. Note this applies only to those variably paid, who were eligible for the first set of grants, and so were on payroll with a real time information submission relating to them sent on or prior to 19 March 2020. Annual pay claims WHEN THE CJRS was introduced in March 2020, some employees – typically company directors – paid via an annual payroll were not eligible for CJRS grants. When the CJRS was extended beyond 31 October 2020, the eligibility criteria changed so that those previously ineligible became eligible. Included were those paid an annual salary after 19 March 2020, but before 30 October 2020. Updated guidance clarifies calculation of the CJRS claim for such workers and provides examples: http://bit.ly/370H51f. £500 one-off payments, Scotland FOLLOWING THE announcement in November 2020 that a one-off payment of £500 would be made to health and social care staff as a thank you for their contribution during the Covid19 pandemic, an online form was made available for use by social care providers on behalf of eligible employees (http://bit. ly/3732zux). The forms had to be submitted by 15 February.
Claim month
Lookback period November 2019 December 2019
November 2020
December 202
January 2021
January 2020
February 2021
February 2020
March 2021
March 2019
April 2021
April 2019
Examples of how to perform calculations under the CJRS have been updated to provide a scenario relating to the ‘lookback’ period (http://bit.ly/2NfhP0a). More information has been added to the ‘Calculate how much you can claim using the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme’ page (http://bit.ly/3cZXVRR). The new section ‘What you can claim’, has been added to the guidance on page ‘Calculate how much you can claim using the CJRS’. For the period 1 November 2020 to 30 April 2021, the CJRS grant will be available for 80% of wages, so employees must be paid at least 80% of their usual wages for the hours that they are furloughed, and are not working, as this is the amount employers can claim via the CJRS. This section reminds employers that they must pay employees flexibly furloughed, which means they are working reduced hours rather than stopping work completely, their full current contracted rate for any hours they work. The CJRS grant cannot be claimed for hours the employee works.
| Professional in Payroll, Pensions and Reward | March 2021 | Issue 68 32
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