Furlough Scheme Extended but Payments May Be Delayed

Thousands more employees are to benefit from the Furlough Scheme.  After a review of the system yesterday 16^th April 2020, the Treasury has extended eligibility dates.

When the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) was first announced employees were required to be employed on 28^th February 2020 to qualify for Furlough, this date has now been extended to 19^th March 2020 to ensure more people get help during Covid-19.  Although they admit there will be further delays to the claims system.   

The change will allow 200,000 more employees to receive support through CJRS.

The scheme will not be up and running until the end of April 2020, which is a delay on the original date of 20^th April 2020 but payments will not be instantaneous.

HMRC confirmed yesterday by email that online applications should be available from 20^th April 2020 but with payments made a minmum of 6 days from application (this means it may take longer).  Watch our video on what employers need to do.

The Furlough scheme allows employers to claim a grant covering 80% of the wage for the Furlough employee and is subject to a cap of £2,500 per month.

The employer must notify HMRC about furloughed employees that were 'on their payroll' on or before 19^th March 2020 to receive the grant.

Comment

A welcome extension for all those employees that changed jobs between 28th February and 19th March 2020, were then made redundant or furloughed with no pay and may have fallen through the net.

That said, employers must supply large amounts of information for each employee to claim, so the race is on this weekend to pull that information together.