Submitting claims under the extended CJRS
06 November 2020
The policy paper released by HMRC that provides details around the extension to the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) lays out some of the considerations for those intending to claim.
The extension operates similarly to how the previous scheme did, as far as:
- Claims must be for a minimum of seven consecutive calendar days
- Employers will be required to report actual hours worked; alongside the usual hours an employee would be expected to work in a claim period
- For any hours worked, the employer must pay employees in line with their contract, and the employer will be responsible for paying the associated on-costs
Claim periods must begin and end within the same calendar month, and where a pay period includes days extending over more than one month, each claim will need to be calculated separately. Claim periods must not overlap.
Claims can be made prior to a payroll run, whilst payroll is being run or after the point at which payroll has been run. Whilst legal terms of the scheme and system are updated, businesses will be required to claim in arrears for that period.
The original CJRS will close on 31 October 2020, and the extension to the scheme will begin on 1 November 2020.
Employers will have the opportunity to claim from 8am on Wednesday 11 November 2020.
Claims that relate to November 2020 must be submitted by no later than 14 December 2020, and claims relating to each subsequent month should be sent by day 14 of the following month. Businesses are reminded that claims up to and including 31 October 2020 need to be submitted by 30 November 2020.
It is intended that grant payments will be received by businesses six working days after they make their claims.
Agents authorised to act on behalf of their clients for PAYE online will also be able to submit claims for them. Further details will be provided within guidance.
Due to the fact that the CJRS has been extended, the Job Support Scheme (JSS) has been postponed, and similarly, so has the Job Retention Bonus (JRB), which will now not be paid out in February 2021.
The information in this article is accurate at the time of publication. For all the latest information, news and resources on how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting payroll professions, visit our Coronavirus hub.