Covid-19 Business Update 9 –  Thursday 16th April 2020

Following our previous update on 9th April 2020, please find below notable changes that have been released via gov.uk.

Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (JRS) – developments and how to claim

We are updating you on an important change to the scheme relating to employee eligibility:

• You can now claim for employees that were employed as of 19 March 2020 (previously 28 February) and were on your PAYE payroll on or before that date; (i.e. a submission has been made to HMRC on or before 19 March 2020

• Employees that were employed as of 28 February 2020 and on payroll (i.e. a submission has been made to HMRC on or before 28 February) and were made redundant or stopped working for you after that, and prior to 19 March 2020, can also qualify for the scheme if you re-employ them and put them on furlough.

How to claim

• The online claim service will be launched on gov.uk on 20 April 2020.

Please do not try to access it before this date as it won’t be available.

• The only way to make a claim is online – the service should be simple to use and any support you need available on gov.uk; this will include help with calculating the amount you can claim.

• Claims will be paid within 6 working days.

You should not contact HMRC unless it is absolutely necessary.

• HMRC cannot answer any queries from employees – they will need to raise these with you, as their employer, directly.

Information you will need before you make a claim

1. A Government Gateway (GG) ID and password – if you don’t already have a GG account, you can apply online. The process to apply on line is straight-forward. You need your payroll reference number and your Accounts Office reference number and access to your email address to verify your email.

If Lishmans undertake your payroll we will complete this process for you.

2. Be enrolled for PAYE online.

3. The following information for each furloughed employee you will be claiming for:
• Name
• National Insurance number
• Claim period and claim amount.
• PAYE/employee number (optional)
• If you have fewer than 100 furloughed staff – you will need to input information directly into the system for each employee
• If you have 100 or more furloughed staff – you will need to upload a file with information for each employee; HMRC will accept the following file types: .xls .xlsx .csv .ods.

You should retain all records and calculations in respect of your claims.

If you wish for Lishmans to process the JRS claims on your behalf

If you are a business payroll client of Lishmans, we will be in touch directly with regards to the process and the preparation and submission of the claims on your behalf.

If you are not currently a business payroll client of Lishmans and wish for us to assist you with the JRS process, please contact us on admin@lishmansllp.com immediately, for us to assist you in this matter.