Following our previous update on 7th April 2020, please find below notable changes that have been released via gov.uk.

Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (JRS) – FAQ

We are receiving many questions about this scheme, often to a level of detail that is not yet known. We have captured the key questions below:

Please see Update 5, released on 31st March 2020 and Update 7, released on 7th April 2020 for the full detail and clarifications on the scheme.

Please read all updates before contacting the office and if they do not answer your specific questions please do not hesitate to contact us.

Q. Why has the date being set at 28th February 2020?

A. No specific reason, the government are allowing back-dated claims to 1st March

Q. Which pay elements can/can’t be included in the gross wages cost?

A. Please see below:

Regular salary – Yes
Skill element – Yes
Regular car allowance – Yes
Bonus – No
Commissions – No
Fees – No
Fuel – No

Q. What does ePAYE stand for?

A. Employer’s PAYE reference

• You must have registered for PAYE online access to make a claim
• If you run your own payroll do this ASAP as it takes 10 days
• If we run your payroll we are checking this and will be in contact with you

Q. Is the submission per employee or per business?

A. The submission is per business, a minimum of every three weeks

Q. How do I deal with holidays while my employee is furloughed?

A. Please note that this is an area of employment law not an accountancy matter and therefore we cannot take legal liability for this advice.

As we understand it, the rules around holiday leave have been relaxed however it is an individual company’s decision on what they wish to do for their workers. The rules have been relaxed as follows:

• Workers who have not taken all of their statutory annual leave entitlement due to COVID-19 will now be able to carry it over into the next 2 leave years, under measures introduced on Friday 27 March.
• Currently, almost all workers are entitled to 28 days holiday including bank holidays each year. However, most of this entitlement cannot be carried between leave years, meaning workers lose their holiday if they do not take it.
• The regulations will allow up to 4 weeks of unused leave to be carried into the next 2 leave years, easing the requirements on business to ensure that workers take statutory amount of annual leave in any one year.
• This will mean staff can continue working in the national effort against the coronavirus without losing out on annual leave entitlement.
• It has not yet been made clear if furlough workers continue to accrue annual leave whilst they are off but the working assumption is that they will.