From 1 September HMRC will now pay 70% of usual wages up to a cap of £2,187.50 per month for the hours furloughed employees do not work.
What you or your clients need to do now
- Continue to pay furloughed employees 80% of their usual wages for the hours they do not work, up to a cap of £2,500 per month. Employers will need to fund the difference between this and the CJRS grant themselves.
- The caps are proportional to the hours not worked. For example, if an employee is furloughed for half their usual hours in September, employers are entitled to claim 70% of their usual wages for the hours they do not work up to £1,093.75 (50% of the £2,187.50 cap).
- Continue to pay furloughed employees’ National Insurance and pension contributions from your own funds.
Make sure your data is right
It’s important that you or your clients provide all the data we need to process your claims. Payment of employers’ grants may be at risk or delayed if they submit a claim that is incomplete or incorrect, so we want to help them get this right. We will get in touch if we see any employee data missing from previous claims.
Claiming for 100 or more employees: use our template
It’s really important to use the right file type when uploading data. The easiest way for you or your clients to ensure a file is in the right format is to use our template. To find it search ‘download a template if you’re claiming for 100 or more employees through the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme’ on GOV.UK.
If a file is in the wrong format – for example, an incorrect file type or too many or too few columns – it may be rejected. If an employers’ file is rejected, they’ll receive a message to say it has not been accepted and their claim will not be processed.
Fraudulent claims
We have started to investigate CJRS claims where fraud is suspected. We will be paying particular attention to claims that differ from the PAYE data we hold and where we have received reports of fraud. Employees are encouraged to report their employer if they have reason to believe that they are abusing the scheme. They can do this anonymously if they prefer. For more information go to GOV.UK and search ‘report fraud to HMRC’.
Protect yourself from scams
Stay vigilant about scams, which may mimic government messages as a way of appearing authentic and unthreatening. Search ‘scams’ on GOV.UK for information on how to recognise genuine HMRC contact. You can also forward suspicious emails claiming to be from HMRC to [email protected] and texts to 60599.
If you have concerns or questions, please contact us on 01932 830664 or through your usual client partner contact. As further details are announced, we will keep you informed.
