An eventful weekend has seen further changes to the Coronavirus financial support measures surrounding employment. The introduction of the Job Support Schemes (“JSS”), detailed in our previous email, has been postponed and the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (“CJRS”), originally due to end on 30 October, has been extended until 30 November. The JSS will commence when the CJRS ends.
The extended CJRS will continue to operate in line with the flexible scheme that’s been in place since July, i.e. eligible employees can work part time, however, from 1 November the government will fund 80% of employees current salary for hours not worked, capped at £2,500 per employee per month. The employer doesn’t have to top up wages (but can if they wish) but will need to cover National Insurance and pension contributions.
To be eligible to be included in a claim, employees must have been on an employer’s payroll submission on or before 30 October 2020.
We expect further guidance to be issued by the Government shortly, including how and when to claim the extended support through an updated claims service.
In other news, businesses operating from premises that are forced to close due to local or national restrictions will be eligible to receive grants up to £3,000 per month under the Local Restrictions Support Grant. The level of grant varies dependent on the rateable value of the business property, as follows:
- Rateable value of £15K or under – grant of £1,334 per month
- Rateable value between £15K and £51K – grant of £2,000 per month
- Rateable value of £51K or over – grant of £3,000 per month
As with the initial business property grant, this will be administered by Local Councils and businesses are encouraged to monitor their Council’s website for updates on how to claim.
If you have any questions please feel free to contact us.