CJRS extended as England enters second lockdown

On Saturday 31st October 2020 the Prime Minister announced that England would be entering a second lockdown, starting on Thursday the 5th of November and ending on Wednesday the 2nd of December.

As we had previously discussed in our post “Details released on Job Support Scheme” the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) was planned to end in October, and the new Job Support Scheme (JSS) to take its place from the 1st November. However, with another lockdown about to come into place this has now changed.

The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme has been extended

The JSS has now been suspended until December, and in its place the CJRS has been extended to operate as it has since it came into effect on the 1st of July. This will allow employers to place their employees on full furlough or flexible furlough throughout November.

It is important to note that this is a temporary measure, and that the JSS has not been completely scrapped. It is still planned to commence in December when lockdown and the CJRS extension ends.

Some changes have been made to the CJRS

Some amendments have been made to the CJRS in light of the extension, so far we know that:

• New legislation will be published which extends the scheme, and HMRC will need to get their systems in place to accept claims.
• The grant will mirror the scheme as it ran in August. The Government will pay 80% of wages up to a cap of £2,500. Employers will pay employers NI and pension contributions.
• To be eligible, employees must be on the employer’s payroll by 30th October and an RTI submission made to HMRC on or before 30th October.
• Employers will continue to pay employers National Insurance and pension contributions as they have since August.
• Employers can choose to top up employees’ wages at their own expense.
• A claim under the extended CJRS must be for a minimum of 7 consecutive calendar days.
• All UK employers are covered by the extension, although the lockdown only applies to England, if an employer has a UK PAYE scheme.

Further detail on the CJRS extension is expected to follow

With the announcements coming in thick and fast, as expected some detail is yet to be clarified on the extension.

It has not been confirmed when the revised legislation will be published, although we expect it to be soon. It has also not been confirmed when claims can be made for November under the revised CJRS but it has been advised that systems will be in place to allow for claims to be made before wages are due to be paid to employees.

As always, Dataplan will provide further updates when additional information is released.