Chancellor Rishi Sunak, announced the Job Retention Bonus (JRB) as part of his Plan for Jobs. It promised businesses a one off £1,000 payment for every previously furloughed employee if they were still employed at the end of Jan 2021.
HMRC has now given further details on eligibility:
- Employee must remain continuously employed until end Jan 2021
- Employees must not be serving a contractual or statutory notice period that started before 1 Feb 2021
- Employees must earn at least £520 a month on average between 1 Nov 2020 and 31 Jan 2021 regardless of frequency of pay periods, hours worked or rates of pay – more detailed guidance is expected in September
- Employers will be able to claim the bonus for employees returning from parental leave or serving as military reservists, with a furlough claim submitted after Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) closed to new entrants on 10 June
- Employers will also be eligible for employee transfers protected under TUPE legislation, provided they have been continuously employed and meet the other eligibility criteria and the new employer has also submitted a CJRS claim for that employee
- Employers can claim for all employees who meet criteria including office holders, company directors and agency workers
Employers will be able to claim the JRB after they have filed PAYE for January and payments will be made to employers from Feb 2021.The payments will be taxable, so the business must include the whole amount as income when calculating taxable profits for Corporation Tax or Self-Assessment.
In preparation for their claims, employers should maintain accurate and up to date employee records through the Real Time Information (RTI) reporting system and details of all CJRS claims.
The government’s policy paper on JRB was published on 31 July.
We are expecting further clarification on the Job Retention Bonus scheme in September and will update our site as soon as we receive it.
In the meantime, if you would like to discuss your businesses approach to flexible furloughing and the current operation of the CJRS scheme, please do get in touch.