The Government’s Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) goes live at 8am on Monday 20th April 2020. HMRC have published important new guidance to help businesses make their claims, including:
- What information you need to make a claim
- How to apply using an agent
- How to calculate a claim
- How to apply using the CJRS portal
- What to do next
The full guidance may be found here.
HMRC have also published a guide to how to calculate the amount a business can claim if they are furloughing employees under the CJRS. This includes a number of worked examples.
They have also updated their guide for employers to check on eligibility for the CJRS, with new information added on fraud, claims for employees you made redundant or who stopped working for you, fixed term contracts, agency workers and retaining records.
The guide for employees has also been updated, with new information added on how to report fraud or abuse of the scheme, fixed term contracts, holiday pay, returning from family related statutory leave, sick pay and agency workers.
The application process
There is likely to be huge pressure on the CJRS portal on Monday and Tuesday. There have been predictions that more than half of all companies will access the scheme. HMRC have advised that the online application service can handle up to 450,000 applications an hour. Employers should then receive the money to pay their employees within six days, enabling them to meet the April payroll.
The Chancellor has also announced that the scheme will run until at least the end of June.
Agents who are authorised to act on behalf of clients for PAYE matters online will be able to make CJRS claims on their behalf. If you need help in making the CJRS claim please get in touch with us in the usual way, or contact us here.
