CJRS Calculation - FAQs
10 March 2021
With an abundance of on-line guidance on calculating furlough claims published on various websites, it’s not surprising that payroll professionals can become confused. With the Chancellor announcing that they are investing millions of pounds into a Taxpayer Protection Taskforce, ensuring your claims are correct, could not be more prevalent.
Considering this and the volume of enquires into our Advisory service, the CIPPs Advisory team have complied some frequently asked questions surrounding furlough calculations which you may find useful.
Q: What is the minimum furlough period?
A: There is no minimum number of days or weeks for a furlough period; not to be confused with the 7-day minimum which refers only to the claim period.
Q: Can you pay furlough whilst an employee is on Jury service?
A: You may continue to pay and claim furlough pay under the CJRS, as statutory leave can be interspersed with furlough leave.
You should only compete the loss of earnings form provided by the courts if you are not going to pay the employee for the period they are on Jury leave.
If you are going to continue to pay them furlough pay whilst on Jury leave you should complete the form saying there will be no loss of earnings (the employee may still be paid out of pocket expenses by the courts). It is fraudulent to claim there will be a loss of earnings if there will not be.
Q: Can I claim under the CJRS for notice pay and accrued annual leave?
A: Accrued annual leave is classed as a termination payment and is therefore unable to be claimed for under the CJRS.
Served contractual or statutory notice pay has not been able to be claimed since 1st December 2020 under the CJRS, therefore both elements of pay must be funded at 100% cost to the employer.
Q: Can we furlough an employee who is on sick leave?
A: Yes you can. However, it is up to the employer to decide whether to move the employee onto SSP or to keep them on furlough, at their furloughed rate. If the employer does move the employee to SSP then employers can no longer claim for the furloughed salary.
If the employee has not yet been placed on furlough, then short term absence/ self-isolation should not be a consideration in deciding whether to furlough an employee. If however, employers want to furlough employees for business reasons and they are currently off sick, they are eligible to do so, as with other employees. In these cases, the employee should no longer receive sick pay and would be classified as a furloughed employee.
The CIPPs Advisory service is a membership benefit of the CIPP, therefore, members of the CIPP can utilise this benefit by either emailing in a query or giving them a call. The advisory contact details are:
Email – [email protected]
Telephone – 0121 712 1099
Our Payroll Update course also includes an element of furlough calculations and will also give you the latest legislation, case law and all the proposed future changes, giving confidence in knowing your knowledge is up to date. You can find a link to our training courses here.