The fourth HMRC direction about the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) has been published.
It extends and modifies the effect of the CJRS from November 1, 2020 to March 31, 2021.
This period is split into two with this direction dealing with the period from November 1 to January 31, 2021 and the period beyond 31 January 2021 to be covered in a further direction in due course.
Joan Pettingill, Head of Employment Law & HR Services at Wake Smith summarises eight key points for HR professionals to be aware of when implementing the CJRS scheme from November 1 to January 31, 2021.
“The CJRS (Job Retention) Bonus that was established on October 1 is withdrawn on the basis that having CJRS subsidy is now in place for a longer period than the government originally anticipated.
“HMRC will publish information about employers that receive a CJRS payment in either December 2020 or January 2021 (this is similar to the naming and shaming scheme for employers that underpay national minimum wage).
“Importantly, there must be an agreement in place between the employer and the employee specifying the main terms and conditions on which the employee will be furloughed (including flexible furlough).”
“Statutory payments such as maternity pay and statutory bereavement pay cannot be claimed back by an employer as part of the claim for CJRS subsidy payments.
“In a big change, CJRS payments must not be made by employers in respect of notice periods from December 1, 2020 to January 31, 2021 nor in respect of unpaid leave or sabbatical periods. Earlier indications had been that potentially statutory notice payments might be claimed but this appears to have been ruled out now.
“The work a director can do for a company has been clarified so that they can fulfil their duties under an act of parliament, make claims for CJRS for employees and put through payroll for staff.
“The provisions relating to staff transferring under TUPE have been clarified so that CJRS claims can be made in most circumstances.
“The deadlines by which CJRS claims must be made for the previous months are tight but clear with the first deadline for making claims for November being December 14, 2020, January 14 for December and February 15 for January.”
For a completely free of charge sample furlough agreement under the new CJRS scheme please contact Joan Pettingill at [email protected]
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