Coronavirus Update - CJRS Bonus - Are you eligible?

Back in the summer the Chancellor announced that employers could receive a one-off payment of £1,000 for every employee who had previously been furloughed under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme  provided they remained continuously employed to the end of January 2021.  Businesses will be able to claim the Job Retention Bonus from 15 February 2021 and the Government has stated that further guidance will be provided by the end of January 2021.

Below is a summary of key criteria to check whether you are eligible to claim:

  • The Job Retention Bonus is a £1,000 one-off taxable payment to the employer for each eligible employee that was furloughed and remained continuously employed until 31 January 2021.
  • The employee must not be serving their contractual or statutory notice period for you on 31 January 2021 (this includes people serving notice of retirement).
  • The minimum income threshold must be met, which means employers must have paid each affected employee a salary of at least £1,560 (gross) throughout the three tax months between 6 November 2020 and 5 February 2021 and paid at least one payment of taxable earnings in each tax month.
  • Before employers can claim the bonus, employers will to need to have reported all payments made to each affected employee between 6 November 2020 and 5 February 2021 to HMRC through the Full Payment Submissions via Real Time Information.

Employers will have until 31 March 2021 to make a Job Retention Bonus claim after which the scheme will close.

For full details of the Government guidance and whether you are eligible to claim – Read more.

CONTACT US

If you require advice on this or any other employment law related issue, please contact the Employment team at Downs Solicitors LLP.