The following is the current information we have hopefully much more detail will follow from the Government
Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme
- Employers may claim a grant of up to 80% of salaries of employees who have been laid off during this crisis. This is subject to a cap of £2,500 per month.
- Employers must designate affected employees as ‘furloughed workers’ and notify the employees of this change.
- To qualify for this scheme: workers should not undertake work while furloughed.
- Employers submit information to HMRC about the employees that have been furloughed and their earnings through a new online portal.
- HMRC are working urgently to set up a system for reimbursement. Existing systems are not set up to facilitate payments to employers.
Statutory Self-Employment Pay Scheme (proposed)
- The Coronavirus Bill includes provisions for a proposed scheme of statutory pay for the self-employed which includes provision for payments to be made by the government to the self- employed and freelancers so that their net monthly earnings do not fall below the lower of:
o 80% of their monthly net earnings, averaged over the last three years and
o £2,917.
Payments would be capped at £2,917 per month.
Wording on the Job Retention Scheme updated to include “existing HMRC systems are not set up to facilitate payments to employers”.
Many think that the system already exists. It doesn’t.
Hmrc currently working on updating systems to accommodate claims but this will take time and likely April at the earliest before operational.
The SE pay scheme not yet in place but these are the proposed provisions
Keep looking out for more updates on our blog