Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme

The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme was announced in March to support businesses affected by Covid-19 to claim up to 80% of their staff wages up to a maximum of £2500 per month. The scheme runs from the 1st March, for four months up until June.

Further guidance and who can claim on the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme can be found here on the Gov.uk under Coronavirus Job Rentention Scheme.

HMRC have stated that this is a scheme that will need to be applied for outside of the normal payroll reporting. You should be reporting all payments made to employees during this time in the normal way and submit your RTI's (FPS/EPS) on or before payment day to avoid any penalties.

All payments to employees on furlough must have tax, NI and pensions deducted in the normal way.

You may wish to separate salary payments into more than one line on the payslips to indicate which part of the payment is furlough pay and what is normal pay.

You should seek further guidance on this from your accountant and HR advisors.

NOTE: This is only a record of what you have paid your employee and is not how you reclaim the grant. HMRC will make the portal available for you from 20th April.

HMRC guidance on how to work out the amount you can reclaim can be found here: work out 80% of your employees wages.

Further HMRC guidance can be found here:

Information for businesses on government support available can be found at support for businesses during coronavirus.

Guidance for employees can at covid-19 guidance for employees.

If you are unsure about anything you should contact HMRC directly or engage an accountant or HR advisor.