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Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme: notice periods 20 July 2020
HMRC has updated two of its pages of guidance relating to the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) – ‘Check which employees you can put on furlough to use the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme’ and ‘Check if your employer can use the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme’ to provide further clarity around notice periods.
The guidance states:
“Your employer can still make you redundant while you’re on furlough or afterwards. Your employer can continue to claim for you while you are serving a statutory or contractual notice period, however grants cannot be used to substitute redundancy payments.” This means that the guidance now confirms that notice periods being served by furloughed employees that employers can claim for include contractual notice periods, and not just statutory ones. Grants cannot be used, however, to substitute redundancy payments.
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Claims under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme phase one must be submitted by no later than 31 July 2020 21 July 2020
Claims for grants under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) that relate to periods ending on or before 30 June 2020 must be made by no later than 31 July 2020.
Employers were not able to ask employees to perform any work for them if they were on furlough during this period, but from 1 July businesses were able to ask employees to come back to work on a part-time basis whilst still claiming the grant for any hours not worked, and spent on furlough. The way in which the government pays out grants relating to the CJRS will also start to change as flexible furloughing as implemented. In July, payment for any normal hours not worked will remain at 80% of wages up to a monthly cap of £2,500. The government will also fund the associated employer National Insurance (NI) contributions and pension contributions. From August, this will change, as employers must start to pay the employer NI and pension contributions on any hours an employee spends on furlough, in addition to payment for any hours actually worked and the associated contributions. In September, the government will pay 70% of wages, up to a monthly cap of £2,187.5 and in October, the month in which the scheme closes, they will fund 60% of wages to a maximum of £1,875 per month. The employer must top the employee’s pay up to 80% but they do have the option to pay more than the 80% if they wish.
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Government extends furlough fraud reporting window 28 July 2020
The exploitation of the government’s Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) has seen a rise in recent months, with instances of ‘furlough fraud’ being reported to HMRC. In recognition of this, the government has implemented a new proposal with the aim of helping claimants to report the overclaims themselves.
The scheme, introduced in March 2020, was established by the Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, in a bid to keep the UK paid in scenarios where job losses would have occurred due to the current COVID-19 pandemic. Unfortunately, however,
The Chartered Institute of Payroll Professionals
Payroll: need to know
cipp.org.uk
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