The merry go-round of announcements from the Chancellor continues. This time it was to extend the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) until 31 March 2021, meaning it will have been in place for a year. What are the key things to know?
How much?
The CJRS will remain open until 31 March 2021. For claim periods until January 2021 employees will receive 80% of their usual salary for hours not worked, up to a maximum of £2,500 per month. The government will review the scheme in January to decide whether employers should contribute more. You can claim for employees who were employed and on your PAYE payroll on 30 October 2020 and you must have made an RTI submission to HMRC between 20 March 2020 and 30 October 2020, notifying a payment of earnings for that employee.
Contributions. Employer contributions will be the same as in August 2020, i.e. you will only be asked to cover the NI and employers’ pension contributions. This will be reviewed in January.
JSS?
The launch of the Job Support Scheme has been postponed and the Job Retention Bonus (JRB) will not be paid in February 2021 and a retention incentive will be deployed at the appropriate time. The purpose of the JRB was to encourage employers to keep people in work until the end of January. However, as the CJRS is being extended, the policy intent of the JRB no longer applies.
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