Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme – new information

8 Sept 2020

From 1 September HMRC will pay 70% of usual wages up to a cap of £2,187.50 per month for the hours furloughed employees do not work.

What employers need to do now

• Continue to pay furloughed employees at least 80% of their usual wages for the hours they do not work, up to a cap of £2,500 per month. Employers will need to fund the difference between this and the CJRS grant themselves.
• The caps are proportional to the hours not worked. For example, if an employee is furloughed for half their usual hours in September, employers are entitled to claim 70% of their usual wages for the hours they do not work up to £1,093.75 (50% of the £2,187.50 cap).
• Continue to pay furloughed employees’ National Insurance and pension contributions from employers’ own funds.

Updated template to help employers get their data right

From today employers can use the HMRC updated template to claim for 100 or more furloughed employees.

The XLS and XLMS versions of the template now highlight any missing information needed to make a CJRS claim. Where information is missing, fields will be red. Once the missing information is filled in, the fields will turn green, making it easier for employers to provide all the data needed to process their claim quickly and successfully.

The template also allows employers to flag if employees have returned from statutory leave, to ensure claims with any new employees listed are processed correctly.

It’s important that employers provide all the data needed to process their claims. Payment of their grant may be at risk or delayed if they submit a claim that’s incomplete or incorrect.

Fraudulent claims

HMRC has started to investigate CJRS claims where fraud is suspected. It will be paying particular attention to claims that differ from the PAYE data held, and where HMRC has received reports of fraud. Employees are encouraged to report their employer if they have reason to believe that they are abusing the scheme. They can do this anonymously if they prefer. For more information go to GOV.UK and search ‘report fraud to HMRC’.