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The Chancellor Rishi Sunak has announced the end of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS), which will phase out and finish in October, alongside the Self-Employed Income Support Scheme.
The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) was put into place by the Chancellor to support employers who would have otherwise made their employees redundant due to the Coronavirus pandemic. It’s estimated to have helped 1 million employers and 8.4 million employees.
It started in March and will continue to October.
March to June – Employers could claim 80% of the furloughed employee’s salary capped at £2,500pm, plus employer national insurance and minimum workplace pension contributions.
During this time there is a condition to the scheme that the employee must not work.
July – To ease workers back to work, employees can work part-time and the CJRS can be claimed to cover the period the employee is not working, again up to 80% of that portion of salary.
August – Part-time working continues to be possible on the same basis, however, the employer is now expected to pay the employers’ national insurance and workplace pension payment.
September – The changes made so far will continue and this time, the amount the employer can claim from the government for the period the employee is not working reduces to 70% and a maximum of £2187pm
October – The changes made so far continue and the amount the employer can claim from the government for the period the employee is not working reduces to 60% and a maximum of £1875pm
November – the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme ends.
You can see there are many changes over the coming months for the CJRS, you may find your employer asked you back to work sooner, but it is ending in October.
If you are self-employed, in effect, this scheme has also been extended until the end of October
Individuals can continue to apply for the first SEISS grant until 13 July. Under the first grant, eligible individuals can claim a taxable grant worth 80% of their average monthly trading profits, paid out in a single instalment covering three months’ worth of profits, and capped at £7,500 in total. Those eligible have the money paid into their bank account within six working days of completing a claim.
Applications for the second grant will open in August. Individuals will be able to claim a second taxable grant worth 70% of their average monthly trading profits, paid out in a single instalment covering three months’ worth of profits, and capped at £6,570 in total.
The eligibility criteria are the same for both grants, and individuals will need to confirm that their business has been adversely affected by coronavirus. An individual does not need to have claimed the first grant to receive the second grant: for example, they may only have been adversely affected by COVID-19 in this later phase. Further guidance on the second grant will be published on Friday 12 June.
These schemes along with the business support loans detailed in our matrix along with the government grants have all come at a cost.
