More employees will now benefit from the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme

16 April 2020

More employees will now benefit from the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme

The Government continues to update the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme ("CJRS") as things continue to unfold nationwide. The CJRS currently supports businesses and employees in covering up to 80% of employees' wages or up to £2,500 per month whilst they are placed on furlough by the employers.

The CJRS initially had a cut off for employees that were already employed on 28 February 2020 which has, unfortunately, left many employees without any support or assistance when they have started a new role and have now found themselves in a difficult position. This has now been amended so the cut-off date is 19 March, which means that the employee must have been on the company's payroll at least the day before the CJRS was first announced. This is likely to support a further 200,000 or so employees across the UK.

HMRC have promised to release the payments of the wages for furloughed employees by the end of April 2020, with application expected to start flooding in from Monday (20 April 2020) when the system will finally go live. The CJRS is currently set to run until 1 June 2020, but the Government and HMRC have confirmed that it will be kept under review as required, which was confirmed by a Treasury spokesperson.

Our expert team continue to be on hand to support business and individuals with the practical implications of employment in the current climate including any advice on the CJRS as necessary. Please do not hesitate to contact our team for any queries.

 We are here to help and we are pleased to offer any new and existing clients a free 30 minutes' telephone consultation to provide some preliminary advice and consider how we might be able to assist further.

Please do not hesitate to contact us and send your details to deana@gepp.co.uk

This is not legal advice; it is intended to provide information of general interest about current legal issues.