New guidance released following the extension of the CJRS - What are the key points?

• Starting 1 November 2020 employers will be able to claim 80% of an employee’s usual salary for hours not worked, up to a maximum of £2,500 per month. The scheme will remain open until 31 March 2021.
• All employers with a UK bank account and UK PAYE scheme will be able to make a claim for periods from 1 November 2020 subject to meeting qualifying criteria. You do not need to have claimed under the scheme previously.
• Unlike the previous scheme, where employers could only claim for the number of employees they had claimed for previous to June, there will no longer be a limit on the number of employees that can be claimed for from 1 November 2020.
• Employers can claim for employees who were employed on 30 October 2020, as long as they were detailed on a PAYE RTI submission to HMRC between the 20 March 2020 and 30 October 2020. This may differ where they have re-employed an employee after 23 September 2020. The government will review the scheme in January 2021.
• If an employee has been made redundant, or they stopped working for their employer on or after 23 September 2020 they can be re-employed and put on furlough as long as the employee was employed and on their employer’s PAYE payroll on or before 23 September 2020.
• Employers can agree retrospectively to furlough someone with effect from 1 November 2020, as long as the agreement to retrospectively claim furlough occurs on or before 13 November. 
• The employer must confirm in writing to the employee that they have been furloughed and keep a written record for five years.
• The government is reviewing whether employers should be eligible to claim for employees serving contractual or statutory notice periods and will change the approach for claim periods starting on or after 1 December 2020, with further guidance published in late November.
• From December 2020, HMRC will publish employer names of those companies and Limited Liability Partnerships (LLPs) which have made claims under the scheme for the month of December onwards.

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 even more with the imposition of the second national lockdown. Further clarification is awaited for employers who are looking at making redundancies to establish if the scheme will apply to those employees serving notice periods. We await Government’s further guidance on this matter in late November.

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.