In July 2020 the Chancellor announced a bonus to encourage employers to keep employees in employment after the end of furlough and the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (“CJRS”) on 31 October 2020.
The key points of the bonus scheme are:
- it provides for a one-off job retention bonus (JRB) payment to an employer of £1,000 (which is taxable)
- it is a bonus for the employer, it does not have to be paid to the employee
- the JRB is payable for every eligible employee the employer claimed for under the CJRS, who remains continuously employed through to 31 January 2021 and who is not serving notice of the termination of employment
- the CRJS claim must not be made after 30 November 2020
- employers can still claim a bonus for a previously furloughed employee if they claim for the employee through the new Job Support Scheme (which replaces the CJRS)
- eligible employees must earn at least £520 gross a month on average (£1560 total) between 6 November 2020 and 5 February 2021 and receive a payment of taxable earnings in each tax month, with all payments to relevant employees reported to HMRC through Full Payment Submissions via Real Time Information
- employers will be able to claim on line from 15 February 2021 and
- the deadline for a claim will be 31 March 2021
Further details of the operation of the bonus have been published in 3 documents: a Treasury Statement, HMRC guidance and HMRC examples:
- https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/923783/SIGNED_CJRS_DIRECTION_No_4__Coronavirus_Job_Retention_Scheme_Bonus__Final.pdf
- https://www.gov.uk/guidance/check-if-you-can-claim-the-job-retention-bonus-from-15-february-2021
- https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/find-an-example-of-employees-and-the-minimum-income-threshold-for-the-job-retention-bonus/example-of-employer-deciding-which-employees-will-meet-the-minimum-income-threshold-for-the-job-retention-bonus
Should you require any further information or advice on dealing with specific issues (such as the above) or employment matters generally, please contact any member of the Employment Law Unit:-
adrienne.brock@edglegal.com julieanne.clarke@edglegal.com
ian.mcfarland@edglegal.com frederick.reilly@edglegal.com
Tel: 028 9024 5034
Copyright 2020 Elliott Duffy Garrett
Every care has been taken in the preparation of this bulletin; readers are advised however to seek legal advice in relation to specific issues.
