There were some big headlines on Friday as the Chancellor announced extensions to the Job Retention and Self-Employed Income Support Schemes. As always, however, the details aren’t made so obvious. So, let’s run through all you need to know about the extensions and some key deadlines.
Job Retention Scheme
If you aren’t already aware of the scheme, what it is, who can claim and how much, head on over to our original FAQ here.
On Friday the scheme was extended to 31 October with a gradual reduction in the support offered as follows:
- AUGUST – funding will no longer be provided for Employers NI and Employers Pension contributions. 80% funding of wages remains.
- SEPTEMBER – funding of wages drops to 70% with employers required to top up at least the 10% to keep employees on 80% of their original wage (cap of £2,500 remains in place – HMRC cap is now £2,190).
- OCTOBER – funding of wages drops again to 60% with employers required to top up at least 20% to keep employees on 80% of their original wage (HMRC cap now £1,875).
PART-TIME WORK
A further key announcement was that, from 1 July (earlier than the previous suggestion of August), employees can return on a part-time basis. Employers must pay in full for the time worked but can still claim furlough support on the remainder of their usual contract/hours that are not worked.
KEY DEADLINES
The scheme will close to new entrants from 30 June 2020. This means any individual employee will need to have completed a period of 3 weeks in furlough before 30 June to be eligible for any funding from July to October. In short this means any individual employee must be furloughed for the first time from 10 June 2020 at the latest.
There will also be a deadline of 31 July 2020 to complete claims for any periods up to 30 June.
Read the full detail of the scheme and extension on the HMRC website.
Self-Employed Income Support Scheme
Again, if you’re unsure on the scheme please do head to our original blog that contains all the relevant details on who can claim and how much.
The announcement last week confirms that self-employed workers affected by the pandemic will be eligible for a further and final payment in August. This time, however, the calculation will be based on 70% of trading profit (reduced from 80%) up to a maximum of £6,570.
It has been stated that you don’t need to have claimed the first payment to apply for the second. Over 2.3 million people who claimed the first round payment would seem to again be eligible as long as your work is still affected, though we do believe a second claim is needed and you would not automatically receive the second payment if you have received one already.
KEY DEADLINES
You can still apply for both payments but the application window for the first payment will close on 13 July 2020. There has been no announcement of a deadline to claim the second payment as yet.
More details available direct from HMRC.
NEXT STEPS
If you haven’t yet claimed either and are unsure on what you may be eligible for or maybe you have claimed but you’re unsure about the extensions, please do get in touch or speak to your own accountant to make sure you are accessing all the relevant support you can.
Stay safe
