Furlough Scheme extended in England

published on 4 November 2020 | reading time approx. 1 minute

  
Boris Johnson has announced that the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) will be extended rather than closed as originally planned. The CJRS has been extended for a month which will cover the new lockdown in England, expected to come in on Thursday, 5 November 2020 and to last until Wednesday, 2 December 2020. Employees will receive 80 percent of their current salary for hours not worked, up to a maximum of £2,500 and employers will be responsible for National insurance and pension contributions.

The CJRS was originally planned to end on 31 October 2020 with the new Job Support Scheme (JSS)  set to launch on 1 November 2020. However, over the weekend Boris Johnson announced that the furlough scheme will be extended. To avoid having two schemes running simultaneously, the JSS has now been postponed until the furlough scheme ends. Additional guidance will be set out shortly by the government.

The extended CJRS scheme will remain open until December. The precise end-date has yet to be confirmed. Flexi-furlough will continue to be an option, so employees can work part-time and receive a furlough grant for unworked hours.

The government has widened the furlough scheme so that, to be eligible to be claimed for under this extension, employees must have been on an employer's PAYE payroll before midnight on 30th October 2020. This means a Real Time Information (RTI) submission notifying payment for that employee to HMRC must have been made on or before 30th October 2020.

In addition, the government is to give grants to business premises forced to close in England worth up to £3,000 per month under the Local Restrictions Support Grant scheme. Further details, including how to claim this extended support, are yet to be released. This is currently a fluid situation with daily updates from the government and may be subject to change.