Key details for employers: second national coronavirus lockdown for England and extension of the furlough scheme
November 2, 2020
Authored by: BCLP at Work
On Saturday 31 October in the evening, the UK Prime Minister announced a second national lockdown in England and an extension of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (“CJRS”). The lockdown comes into force on Thursday 4 November 2020 and lasts until at least 2 December 2020. Under the government’s current plans the CJRS will be extended until December 2020.
Key details of the changes
The key details of the changes to the extended CJRS that have so far been announced are as follows:
- It is currently due to be extended until December 2020, presumably to coincide with the period of the national lockdown.
- Employees will receive 80% of their current salary for hours not worked, up to a maximum of £2,500. Employers will only have to bear the cost of National Insurance and employer pension contributions. This reflects the government’s more generous contribution when the scheme originally began to taper off.
- To be eligible to participate in the CJRS, employees must have been on the payroll by 30 October 2020. This means a Real Time Information (RTI) submission notifying payment for that employee to HMRC must have been made on or before 30 October 2020.
- Employees who participate in the extended CJRS do not need to have been furloughed before.
- Employers need to report and claim for a minimum period of seven consecutive calendar days.
- The Job Support Scheme, which was scheduled to come into force yesterday (1 November 2020), has been postponed until the CJRS ends.
Implications