CORONAVIRUS JOB RETENTION SCHEME AKA FURLOUGH EXTENDED AT EIGHTY PERCENT

02 November 2020

CORONAVIRUS JOB RETENTION SCHEME AKA FURLOUGH EXTENDED AT EIGHTY PERCENT

Employers small or large, charitable or non-profit, are eligible for the extended 80% Job Retention Scheme (also known as the CJRS or ‘furlough’), which will continue for a further month.

 

The Job Support Scheme, which was scheduled to come in on Sunday 1st November, has been postponed until the furlough scheme ends.

 

Employees can have any kind of contract, and employers will be able to agree working arrangements with employees, but to be eligible for a claim under this extension, they must have been on their employer’s PAYE payroll before midnight on 30th October 2020, meaning that that a Real Time Information submission which notifies payment for an employee to HMRC must have been made by that time.

 

Businesses will have flexibility to bring furloughed employees back to work on a part time basis or furlough them full-time, and will only be asked to cover National Insurance and employer pension contributions which, for the average claim, accounts for just 5% of total employment costs.

 

Employers can claim the grant for hours that their employees do not work, calculated by referring to the usual hours worked in a claim period. The logic of these calculations will largely follow current CJRS.

 

When claiming a CJRS grant for furloughed hours, employers need to report and claim for a minimum period of 7 consecutive days. Employers will also need to report hours worked and the usual hours an employee would be expected to work in a claim period.

 

For worked hours, employees will be paid by their employer subject to their employment contract and employers will be responsible for paying the tax and NICs due on those amounts.

 

To be eligible for the grant, employers must have confirmed to their employee (or reached collective agreement with a trade union) in writing that they have been furloughed.

 

To find out if you’re eligible and how much you can claim to cover wages for employees on temporary leave ('furlough') due to coronavirus (COVID-19), please CLICK HERE

 

 

TEMPLATE LETTER FOR FURLOUGING STAFF

 

A reminder that HU Members can access a template letter in order to furlough staff from the HU's bank of COVID 19 Guidance, provided by legal partner MTB Solicitors.

 

To download CLICK HERE

- log in with your membership password

- click onto page 2

- click on 'Furloughing Staff Template Letter (HU11a)'

- if you do not know your membership password please email enquiries@hospitalityulster.org and we will respond ASAP.

 

 

BREAKING NEWS: UK GOV INCREASES SUPPORT FOR SELF EMPLOYED

 

To reflect the recent changes to the furlough scheme, the UK-wide Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) will include self-employed individuals receiving 80% of their average trading profits for November.

 

Payments will also be made more quickly, according to the official statement, with the claims window being brought forward from 14 December to 30 November.

 

For full details CLICK HERE