Under the extended scheme:
- The Government will pay 80% of wages for employees’ hours not worked up to a cap of £2,500 per month.
- Employers will only pay National Insurance contributions and pension contributions for those unworked hours, setting the scheme back to where it was in August 2020.
- The scheme will be reviewed in January 2021 to decide whether to ask employers to increase contributions.
- Neither the employer nor the employee needs to have previously claimed or have been claimed for under the scheme to make a claim under the extended
- An employer can claim for employees who were employed and on its PAYE payroll on 30 October 2020.
- Employees who were made redundant or stopped working after 23 September 2020 can be re-employed and claimed for (provided the employer agrees to do so).
- Employers will have flexibility to use the scheme for employees for any amount of time or shift pattern, furlough employees on either a full-time or part-time basis, and vary the hours worked in agreement with the employee.
Details of the newly extended scheme are contained on the Gov.UK website, as well as an economic support factsheet.
The policy paper sets out:
- Updated details on eligibility criteria for employers and employees.
- The information employers will need in order to claim.
Updated information on reference data to calculate those claims.
The launch of the Job Support Scheme has been postponed.
The Job Retention Bonus will not now be paid. However, a retention incentive will be put in place at an appropriate time.
For more information on the items raised in this article please contact our Employment Law Team by clicking here.