Covid 19 - Job Support Scheme

Following on from our ‘Job Support Scheme’ (JSS) news article dated 24th September 2020, HMRC have produced their policy paper and have released a JSS factsheet. The key developments include:

• The JSS will run for 6 months from 1st November 2020 until April 2021
• Employees must have been on their employers PAYE on or before 23rd September 2020 and a subsequent RTI submission notifying payment to that employee must have also been made on or before 23rd September 2020
• The employee must be working at least 1/3 of their normal working hours and be paid for that work. The government will cover 1/3 of the pay lost for hours not worked, the employer covers 1/3 and the employee 1/3 (through wage reduction).
• Large businesses will have to meet a ‘financial assessment test’ to be eligible for the grants, no such test is required for Small and Medium enterprises (SMEs). As such, there is an expectation that large businesses will not make capital contributions whilst claiming the grant, such as dividend payments and shares buybacks.
• Employees will be able to cycle on and off the scheme and do not have to be working the same pattern each month, but each short-term working arrangement must cover a minimum period of 7 days.
• Government contributions will be capped at £697.92 per month
• Grant payments will be made in arrears and will not cover Class 1 Employer NIC or pension contributions, although contributions still remain payable by the employer.
• ‘Usual wages’ calculations will follow the same route as CJRS. i.e. the business should use the underlying pay (Usual wages) and/or hours for calculations, for example the pay/hours prior to CJRS.
• Employers must pay employees for their contracted hours worked, and the government and employer contributions for hours not worked. The expectation is that the employer cannot top up their employee’s wages above the two thirds contribution of hours not worked at their own expense.
• Employees cannot be made redundant or put on notice of redundancy during the period which their employer is claiming the grant for that employee.
• Claims can be made by employers from December 2020 and will be paid on a monthly basis.

The full factsheet can be found here

We expect further Guidance and Legislation to be released from HM Revenue & Customs in the coming weeks.

Aspire Comment

This will come as a huge relief to those sectors that have been severely affected by Covid-19 already and those that will struggle beyond 31 October 2020 once the CJRS ends.   

We are working with a number of clients with employment guidance, such as restructuring, redundancies, home working and absence policies.  Please get in touch with one of our advisors on 0121 445 6178 or email enquire@aspirepartnership.co.uk for a chat to see how we can support you and your business.