Today, the Government announced it will increase its winter support schemes.  

With various schemes now in place, we thought it would be useful to summarise these below.

CURRENT LIVE SCHEME (ENDING 31 OCTOBER 2020):

This was initially announced in March 2020 and is scheduled to end on 31 October 2020.  The final date to make a claim under this scheme is 30 November 2020.

The details of this scheme were in our newsletter of 26 March 2020. 

 

TWO SCHEMES GOING LIVE DEPENDANT ON YOUR LOCAL ALERT LEVEL (STARTING FROM 1 NOVEMBER 2020):

The JSS will replace the CJRS from 1 November 2020. The amount of support available will depend upon which ‘Alert Level/Tier’ your business trades in. 

You can check your current local alert/tier level here: https://www.gov.uk/find-coronavirus-local-restrictions.

IF YOUR BUSINESS IS IN LOCAL COVID ALERT LEVEL – VERY HIGH (TIER 3)

This scheme is very specific to businesses that have been LEGALLY REQUIRED TO CLOSE due to COVID restrictions and it is open to employers for 6 months from 1 November 2020. 

WHO IS ELIGIBLE?

• Employers with a UK bank account, UK PAYE scheme registered on or before 23 September 2020 can claim on this scheme.  This means a Real Time Information (RTI) submission notifying payment to the employee to HMRC must have been made on or before this date.
• This scheme covers businesses that, as a result of restrictions imposed by The Government are LEGALLY REQUIRED TO CLOSE.
• Employers must be instructed to and cease work for a minimum of 7 consecutive (or calendar) days.
• Neither the employer nor the employee needs to have previously used the CJRS.
• Claims must not overlap and must be made monthly in arrears.

WHAT CAN I CLAIM?

• Up to two thirds of an employee’s normal pay up to a limit of £2,100 per month.
• Payments will be made in arrears, reimbursing the employer for the Government’s contribution.

HOW DO I CLAIM?

• Employers will be able to make a claim on a monthly basis online (through gov.uk) from December 2020.
• Claims must not overlap and must be made monthly in arrears.

KEY POINTS TO NOTE

• JSS grants can be used by employers to help to meet the Job Retention Bonus Scheme minimum income threshold.
• Employees cannot be made redundant or put on notice of redundancy during the period which their employer is claiming the grant for that employee.
• Employers will not be required to contribute towards wages and only asked to cover NI and pension contributions.
• Employers must agree the new scheme with the relevant staff, make any changes to the employment contract by agreement, and notify the employee in writing.  (This agreement must be made available to HMRC on request).
• HMRC intend to publish the name of employers who have used the scheme, and employees will be able to find out if their employer has claimed for them under the scheme.

The details of the original scheme were in our newsletter of 24 September 2020.

The updated scheme announced today is available to all eligible businesses in any tier/alert level area that have not been legally instructed to close. This covers Medium (Tier 1), High (Tier 2) And Very High (Tier 3) areas.  The scheme is open to employers for 6 months from 1 November 2020.

CHANGES TO THE ORIGINAL SCHEME ANNOUNCED

• Minimum hours required for employees to work has dropped from 33% to 20% 
• Employer contribution for non-worked hours has dropped from 33% to 5%

WHAT IS THE SCHEME? 

• The Job Support Scheme Open is designed to protect jobs in businesses who can operate safely but are facing lower demand over the winter months due to Covid-19. 
• The GOVERNMENT WILL PAY 61.67% OF HOURS NOT WORKED up to a cap of £1,541.75 per month.
• The employer must CONTRIBUTE TO 5% OF NON-WORKED HOURS up to a CAP OF £125 PER MONTH.
• The caps are based on a monthly reference salary of £3,125. 
• This will ensure EMPLOYEES EARN A MINIMUM OF AT LEAST 73% OF THEIR NORMAL WAGES, where their usual wages do not exceed the reference salary. 
• The EMPLOYEE WILL HAVE TO WORK A MINIMUM OF 20% OF THEIR NORMAL HOURS.

WHO IS ELIGIBLE?

• Employees must be on an employer’s PAYE payroll between 6 April 2019 to 23 September 2020. This means a Real Time Information (RTI) submission notifying payment to that employee to HMRC must have been made on or before 23 September 2020.
• Staff on any type of contract are eligible, including those on variable or zero hours and agency workers
• Employees will be able to cycle on and off the scheme and do not have to be working the same pattern each month, but each short time working arrangement must cover a minimum period of seven consecutive days.

HOW DO I CLAIM?

• Employers will be able to make a claim online through Gov.uk from 8 December 2020. They will be paid on a monthly basis. 
• Grants will be payable in arrears meaning that a claim can only be submitted in respect of a given pay period, after payment to the employee has been made and that payment has been reported to HMRC via an RTI return.

 

 

The details of this scheme were in our newsletter of 27 March 2020.

Today the following details of further additional grants were announced:

• The Government will provide two taxable SEISS grants to support those experiencing reduced demand due to COVID-19 but are continuing to trade, or temporarily cannot trade.
• It will be available to anyone who was previously eligible for the SEISS grant one and grant two, and meets the eligibility criteria.
• Grants will be paid in two lump sum instalments each covering 3 months. The first grant will cover a three-month period from the start of November 2020 until the end of January 2021. The government will pay a taxable grant which is calculated based on 40% of three months’ average trading profits, paid out in a single instalment and capped at £3,750.
• The second grant will cover a three-month period from the start of February until the end of April 2021. The government will review the level of the second grant and set this in due course.

 

It is important to watch out for scams and fraud so if someone texts, calls or emails claiming to be from HMRC, saying that you can claim financial help or are owed a tax refund, and asks you to click on a link or to give information such as your name, credit card or bank details,IT IS A SCAM.

Last modified on Thursday, 22 October 2020