Employer and employee eligiblity for the extended CJRS 6 November 2020
Following on from announcements made relating to the extension to the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS), a policy paper has been published, which is applicable to claims for the periods between November 2020 and the end of January 2021.
Extended guidance is due to be released on 10 November 2020, and details relating to how the scheme will work from February 2021 – March 2021 will be provided following the Government’s review of the scheme.
Businesses will want to start assessing if they, and their workers, are eligible for the scheme, and the policy paper provides extensive detail in that area.
Employer eligibility
There is no requirement for employers to have accessed the CJRS previously in order for them to claim under the extended scheme, and businesses across the UK are able to claim, regardless of whether they are open or closed. The expectation is that publicly funded organisations will not utilise the scheme, as previously with the CJRS, but partially publicly funded organisations could be eligible in scenarios where private revenue has been disturbed. All other CJRS eligibility criteria must be met in order for companies to use the scheme.
HMRC intends to publish the details of any employers making claims under the extended CJRS, from December 2020 onwards. Further details will be provided on 10 November, when full guidance is issued.
Employee eligibility
Employers may claim for any employees who were employed, and on PAYE payroll on 30 October 2020. A PAYE Real Time Information (RTI) submission must have been made to HMRC notifying payment of earnings for that employee between 20 March 2020 and 30 October 2020. Employees can be placed on any shift pattern and be furloughed either on a full or part-time basis, with the option to vary the hours worked, as long as this is agreed between employer and employee. Employers will have the option to use the scheme for employees for any amount of time.
Employees can also be on any type of employment contract.
If employees have been furloughed previously, then the same calculations for obtaining reference pay and usual hours must be used as under the initial version of the CJRS.
For an employee who meets the criteria of the extended scheme, but who hasn’t previously been eligible for CJRS then the alternative calculations of reference pay and usual hours have to be used. For any other employees, employers have to utilise the CJRS calculations for calculating reference pay and usual hours. Employers can claim for the same level of grant from the Government as observed under the scheme for August 2020, so for any hours not worked, employers will only be required to pay for employer National Insurance (NI) and pension contributions. This will be reviewed in January, and the level of support could change from February 2021. If employees work any hours as normal then the employer must pay them for that, plus the associated on-costs. Employees can be furloughed if they are unable to work because they: • Are shielding, and following public health guidance, or are required to stay at home with somebody else who is shielding • Have caring responsibilities resulting from coronavirus – this extends to employees required to look after children
The scheme is not intended for short-term sickness absences, but if employers wish to furlough employees who are currently off sick for business reasons, then they are able to do so.
The Chartered Institute of Payroll Professionals
Payroll: need to know
cipp.org.uk
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