Here to Help: Coronavirus Job retention Scheme

The government has published detailed guidance which is summarised, for the full details see claim-for-wage-costs-through-the-coronavirus-job-retention-scheme.

Who can claim?

Any UK organisation with employees can apply, including:

• Businesses
• Charities
• Recruitment agencies (agency workers paid through PAYE)
• Public authorities

You must have created and started a PAYE payroll scheme on or before 28 February 2020 and have a UK bank account. Where a company is being taken under the management of an administrator, the administrator will be able to access the Job Retention Scheme.

Employees you can claim for

Furloughed employees must have been on your PAYE payroll on 28 February 2020, and can be on any type of contract, including:

• Full-time employees
• Part-time employees
• Employees on agency contracts
• Employees on flexible or zero-hour contracts

Work out what you can claim

At a minimum, employers must pay their employee the lower of 80% of their regular wage or £2,500 per month. An employer can also choose to top up an employee’s salary.

HMRC will issue more guidance on how employers should calculate their claims for Employer National Insurance Contributions and minimum automatic enrolment employer pension contributions, before the scheme becomes live.

Full time and part time employees

For full time and part time salaried employees, the employee’s actual salary before tax, as of 28 February should be used to calculate the 80%. Fees, commission and bonuses are not be included.

Employees whose pay varies

If the employee has been employed (or engaged by an employment business) for a full twelve months prior to the claim, you can claim for the higher of either:

• the same month’s earning from the previous year
• average monthly earnings from the 2019-20 tax year

If the employee has been employed for less than a year, you can claim for an average of their monthly earnings since they started work.

If the employee only started in February 2020, use a pro-rata for their earnings so far to claim.

Employer National Insurance and Pension Contributions

All employers remain liable for associated Employer National Insurance contributions and minimum automatic enrolment employer pension contributions on behalf of their furloughed employees.

You can claim a grant from HMRC to cover wages for a furloughed employee, equal to the lower of 80% of an employee’s regular salary or £2,500 per month, plus the associated Employer National Insurance contributions and minimum automatic enrolment employer pension contributions on paying those wages.

You can choose to provide top-up salary in addition to the grant. Employer National Insurance Contributions and automatic enrolment contribution on any additional top-up salary will not be funded through this scheme. Nor will any voluntary automatic enrolment contributions above the minimum mandatory employer contribution of 3% of income above the lower limit of qualifying earnings (which is £512 per month until 5th April and will be £520 per month from 6th April 2020 onwards).

National Living Wage/National Minimum Wage

Furloughed workers, who are not working, must be paid the lower of 80% of their salary, or £2,500 even if, based on their usual working hours, this would be below NLW/NMW.

What you’ll need to make a claim

To claim, you will need:

• Your ePAYE reference number
• The number of employees being furloughed
• The claim period (start and end date)
• Amount claimed (per the minimum length of furloughing of 3 weeks)
• Your bank account number and sort code
• Your contact name
• Your phone number

You will need to calculate the amount you are claiming and HMRC will retain the right to retrospectively audit all aspects of your claim.

HMRC has created a Furlough Calculator to help you quickly find out how much you can claim to cover the wages of your furloughed UK employees which you can check out here.

Claim

You can only submit one claim at least every 3 weeks, which is the minimum length an employee can be furloughed for. Claims can be backdated until the 1 March if applicable.

What does this mean for me?

1. You should discuss with your staff and make any changes to the employment contract by agreement
2. Continue to pay your employees at the lower of 80% of their regular wage or £2,500 per month through your payroll software
3. Claim a grant from HMRC to cover wages for a furloughed employee, equal to the lower of 80% of an employee’s regular salary or £2,500 per month, plus the associated Employer National Insurance contributions and minimum automatic enrolment employer pension contributions on paying those wages. HMRC will issue more guidance on how employers should calculate and process their claims.

Note: At this point we are unsure exactly how employer pension contributions will be affected for pensions that are calculated from pound one and not currently based on earnings above £520 per month.