On Saturday, the Government announced a new national lockdown and with it a change to the financial support previously announced.  

Friday night had seen the release of further JSS details, which we wrote about in our newsletter dated 22 October, but by Saturday evening that scheme was put on the back burner.  Instead there is now a full extension of the existing furlough scheme (CJRS). JSS will not now take effect until the CJRS ends on 30 November.

Given the confusion surrounding the numerous announcements on schemes and the ever-changing landscape, for clarity, we outline below the current measures in place:

 

 

• The CJRS will operate as the previous scheme did.
• The CJRS is being extended until December.
• Employers will pay employer NICs and pension contributions, and should continue to pay the employee for hours worked in the normal way 
• For hours not worked by the employee, the government will pay 80% of wages up to a cap of £2,500. The grant must be paid to the employee in full.
• Employers will pay employer National Insurance Contributions (NICs) and pension contributions only for the hours the employee does not work.
• As with the current CJRS, employers are still able to choose to top up employee wages above the scheme grant at their own expense if they wish.
• As under the current CJRS, flexible furloughing will be allowed in addition to full-time furloughing.
• The Job Support Scheme will be introduced following the end of the CJRS.

WHO IS ELIGIBLE?

• All employers with a UK bank account and UK PAYE schemes can claim the grant. Neither the employer nor the employee needs to have previously used the CJRS.
• To be eligible to be claimed for under this extension, employees must be on an employer’s PAYE payroll by 23:59 30th October 2020. 

 

  

Where businesses have been required by law to close in England, they will be able to apply for a support grant from their English local authority, based on the rateable value of their business premises:

RATEABLE VALUE OF PREMISES	GRANT PAYABLE PER TWO WEEKS
Up to £15,000	£667
£15,001 to £50,999	£1,000
£51,000 or more	£1,500

Business grant policy is fully devolved.  Devolved administrations will receive Barnett consequentials which they could use to establish similar schemes, therefore different local business grants may be available in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

 

There was no new information about support for the self-employed, so we must assume the next SEISS grant will be given at 40% of average profits as previously announced. 

To summarise the support available that was previously announced on 22 October:

• 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. 
• 1st 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 online service for the 1st grant will be available from 14 December 2020.
• The 2nd 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.

 

Mortgage payment holidays did not end on 31st October as previously planned. Borrowers who have been impacted by coronavirus and have not yet had a mortgage payment holiday will be entitled to a six-month holiday, and those that have already started a mortgage payment holiday will be able to top up to six months without this being recorded on their credit file.

The FCA will announce further information today.

 

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 Monday, 02 November 2020