The position at present
From: HM Revenue & Customs
Contents
- Who can claim
- Employees you can claim for
- Agreeing to furlough employees
- When your employees are on furlough
- Before you claim
- Contacting HMRC
If you’ve already worked out how much you can claim, you can claim for wages online through the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.
If you cannot maintain your current workforce because your operations have been severely affected by coronavirus (COVID-19), you can furlough employees and apply for a grant that covers 80% of their usual monthly wage costs, up to £2,500 a month, plus the associated Employer National Insurance contributions and pension contributions (up to the level of the minimum automatic enrolment employer pension contribution) on that subsidised furlough pay.
This is a temporary scheme in place for 4 months starting from 1 March 2020, but it may be extended if necessary and employers can use this scheme anytime during this period. It is designed to help employers whose operations have been severely affected by coronavirus (COVID-19) to retain their employees and protect the UK economy. However, all employers are eligible to claim under the scheme and the government recognises different businesses will face different impacts from coronavirus.
When will furlough end?
It has been announced that it will run until June 2020. We look at several scenarios on how it might end:
- Completely stop furlough in June 2020. Businesses will have to decide if they can re employ their staff as normal.
- Extend furlough for a further period, say one month.
- Continue with furlough on a reduced basis. The 80% grant could be reduced to say 60% or 40%.
These are the decisions which the Government must make.
” The decision as to what comes after furlough is a difficult one for the Government. They need to take into account the data on the virus, the position of the economy and projections moving forward on the state of the nation.”
Nigel Holland