The extension has been granted to reflect the continued requirement for the public to adhere to social distancing measures, in order to stop the spread of coronavirus.
A press release has been issued by the Treasury which explains that the move ensures that firms across the UK can continue to protect millions of jobs, and that the scheme will be continuously monitored to ensure that people and businesses can get back to work, but only when it is safe to do so, to drive the UK’s economic recovery. The scheme was originally open for a period of three months and backdated from 1 March to the end of May but will now be open until the end of June. The Chancellor maintains that the scheme could still be extended further should it be necessary. Rishi Sunak said: “We’ve taken unprecedented action to support jobs and businesses through this period of uncertainty, including the UK-wide Job Retention Scheme. With the extension of the coronavirus lockdown measures yesterday, it is the right decision to extend the furlough scheme for a month to the end of June to provide clarity.
It is vital for people’s livelihoods that the UK economy gets up and running again when it is safe to do so, and I will continue to review the scheme so it is supporting our recovery.”
The Office for Budgetary Responsibility (OBR) confirmed that the CJRIS is limiting the impact that COVID-19 is having on employment.
Any further decisions on the CJRS will consider the wider measures being taken to curb the spread of coronavirus, but also take the responsible management of public finances into account.
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Guidance on how to calculate wage figures through the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme 20 April 2020
HMRC has published guidance which explains how to calculate 80% of employee’s wages, National Insurance (NI) contributions and pension contributions to claim through the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS).
As expected, the guidance is lengthy and detailed but serves to answer many of the questions that payroll professionals have raised over the past few weeks.
Claims need to be started from the date that the employee stops working and starts furlough and not when the decision is made or the date on which they are written to confirming their furloughed status.
When the online service launches on 20 April 2020, a calculator will also be available to assist claimants in calculating how much they can claim.
Calculating the maximum wage account that can be claimed
There is a cap of £2,500 a month, or £576.98 a week that can be claimed via the CJRS, plus any associated employer National Insurance (NI) contributions and pension contributions.
For claims that don’t span either a week or month, daily maximum wage amounts will need to be used to work out the maximum amount that can be claimed per employee.
In order to calculate the maximum amount that can be claimed, multiply the daily maximum wage amount by the number of days the employee is furloughed for in the claim.
Month
Daily maximum wage amount
March 2020 April 2020
£80.65 per day £83.34 per day £80.65 per day
May 2020
The Chartered Institute of Payroll Professionals
Payroll: need to know
cipp.org.uk
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