Furlough Scheme Extended Nov 2020

Furlough Scheme Extended – Nov 2020 Update

The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) has been extended until March 2021 with furloughed employees to receive 80% of salary for hours not worked and businesses asked only to cover National Insurance and employer pension contributions.

The CJRS was due to have ended after being scaled back to cover 60% of salaries during October.

Details confirmed by the Chancellor reveal that the scheme will retain the flexible element, but the level of government support will return to the levels given in August. In this iteration, furloughed employees will receive 80% of their current salary for hours not worked, up to a maximum of £2,500.

Employers will be able to furlough employees full time or part time, but to be eligible for the grant an employee must have been on an RTI submission made to HMRC before 23.59 on 30 October 2020. As under the current CJRS rules, employees can be on any type of employment contract.

Employers will only be asked to cover employer national insurance and pension contributions for hours not worked. They will continue to pay for hours worked as normal. Employers can top up furloughed staff’s salary to the previously contracted amount if that is what has been agreed with the employee.

Businesses and their workers in Wales and Scotland which have already been in full lockdown for some weeks, will be wondering whether there will be any backdated additional support for them

In the meantime, the Tax Faculty advises all businesses using the CJRS to keep detailed records of workers’ pay and hours worked so that it will be easier to make the claims once the portal is available.

Full guidance will be published on 10 November 2020. Click here to read more on Gov.uk.