Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme: Essential information for all Employers

On Friday 20 March 2020 the Chancellor announced an extraordinary new scheme to support job retention during these highly uncertain times. What we know so far is:

• The job retention scheme is available to all employers
• It will work as a grant to cover the wages of furloughed staff (there is currently no formal definition of 'furloughed workers' but the categorisation appears to apply to any employee designated by their employer as a 'furloughed worker'. It appears to be intended to apply to employees who might otherwise be laid off)
• It will cover 80% of wages up to a maximum of £2500 per month, per worker; with employers having the option to top up
• The payment of wages can be backdated to 1st March 2020
• The scheme will be available for an initial period of 3 months but could be extended
• The government intends that the first grants will be paid within weeks and the scheme should be fully up and running by the end of April 2020
• There is no limit on the amount of funding available
• HMRC plan to set up a new portal for applications.  As of [17:00 on 22 March] this portal is not yet available.  This is the information available so far on the HMRC website.

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We will publish further updates on the Wilsons website as soon as they become available. In the meantime, if you have any questions please don't hesitate to get in contact using the form below.