Furlough/Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme Guidance November 2020
UPDATED: 13/11/20: Amendments to the guidelines and Treasury Direction released
This summary covers the headlines and application guidance for the government guidance published on 10 November 2020. There are several sources of updated guidance, but the key ones are:
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/claim-for-wage-costs-through-the-coronavirus-job-retention-scheme
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/claim-for-wages-through-the-coronavirus-job-retention-scheme
General Provisions (that we already know)
- The extended scheme is in place from 1 November 2020 to 31 March 2021 and employers/employees do not need to have benefited from the scheme before to claim for periods from 1 November.
- UK Government will pay 80% of employees’ usual wages for the hours not worked, up to a cap of £2500 per month.
- The scheme will be reviewed in January – probably to taper government contribution levels in the same way as September and October 2020.
- Employers can claim for employees who were employed on 30 October 2020, as long as they have made a PAYE RTI submission to HMRC between the 20 March 2020 and 30 October 2020, notifying a payment of earnings for that employee.
- Employees can re-employ any leavers that were on payroll as at 23 September.
- The employer must confirm in writing to the employee that they have been furloughed, and keep a written record for five years.
What’s new?
‘Working’ notice whilst furloughed
A big criticism of the previous scheme, and something explicitly excluded from the JSS, was the ability for employees working out their notice to be claimed for under what is a ‘job retention’ scheme.
The guidance states:
“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.”
It is expected that the ability to claim for employees under notice will change on 1 December. If an employer anticipates the need to give notice to any employees, and have budgeted to use the scheme, they should give notice now whilst it remains possible. There are clear implications here for employers that are considering re-employing anyone that had previously left the organisation.
13 November update: It has now been confirmed that claims may not be made for any day that an employee is serving notice between 1 December 2020 and 31 January 2021
New anti-fraud measure
The guidance states:
“From December 2020, HMRC will publish employer names for companies and Limited Liability Partnerships (LLPs), the company registration number of those who have made claims under the scheme for the month of December onwards.”
This will allow employees to find out if their employer has claimed for them under the scheme – and take action if they feel it does not reflect reality.
13 November update: A condition of making a claim is that the employer accepts that HMRC will publish information about CJRS claims on the internet. This includes employer name and a “reasonable indication” of the amount claimed.
Furlough agreements
To make a valid claim, there must be an agreement in place between employee and employer (even if topping up to 100% pay). Records of this must be retained for 5 years.
For those previously furloughed, a communication to extend the arrangements will be sufficient. If employees are being flexibly furloughed for the first time, they will need to be advised on the mechanics of hours to be worked/not-worked within their agreement.
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. If this date has passed, claims can only be made in line with the timescales of the agreement.
13 November update: From 14 November, as part of the record keeping requirements, employers will need to have records that show agreements were in place before the start of the relevant claim period.
Shielding employees
The guidance clarifies that you can now only furlough those that are ‘Clinically Extremely Vulnerable’ (CEV), and not all those that are shielding. This would appear to be a narrower definition.
Returning from maternity leave
Employees returning from maternity leave need to give the statutory eight weeks’ notice to end maternity leave early in order to be furloughed (and get furlough pay, typically higher than SMP). Employer and employee sometimes agree a lesser notice period, but it appears this cannot be reduced for the purposes of accessing the scheme.
Number of employees in any one claim
There is no longer a maximum number of employees you can put on furlough at any one time. (Under the previous furlough scheme, employers could only claim for the number of employees they had claimed for previous to June).
Claim timescales
There are now monthly deadlines for claims. Claims for periods starting on/after 1 November must be submitted within 14 calendar days after the month they relate to (or the next weekday if it falls on a weekend).
Claims for periods up to 31 October will not be accepted after 30 November.
Job Retention Bonus
The Job Retention Bonus will no longer be paid in February 2021 and an alternative retention incentive will be put in place at the appropriate time.
Job Support Scheme
The launch of the Job Support Scheme has also been postponed.
If you have any questions on the requirements of the scheme and how to implement them, please do get in touch.
