Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme: Eligibility extended to 19 March 2020

You may have read our blog on the Government’s Job Retention Scheme [click here] which we published on 21 March explaining how employers can claim a grant covering 80% of the wages for a furloughed employee, subject to a cap of £2,500 a month.  Today it has been announced that the eligibility cut-off date has been extended from 28 February 2020 to 19 March 2020.  This means that employees only need to have been employed from 19 March in order to qualify. It is expected that many more workers can now be furloughed.  HMRC hopes that the scheme will be fully operational by the week commencing 20 April 2020.

This new announcement means that employers can now claim for furloughed employees that were on their PAYE payroll and notified to HMRC through an RTI submission notifying payment on or before 19 March 2020.  It is believed that while this alteration in the date of eligibility will make the scheme more generous, it will also keep the major risk of fraud under control. If you would like to discuss further, please contact Andrew Noton andrewnoton@lubbockfine.co.uk or your usual Lubbock Fine contact.