Around 8 weeks into the Coronavirus entering the UK and over 2 weeks since the total lockdown was announced by the Government, the shock, grief and anger phases have now started to wear off for most business owners who have been negatively impacted by this crisis.
Check out this webinar, where Lee Manning - Partner at Raffingers gave an update on any changes to the existing measures, and discussing what you can do as a business owner, to use this downtime productively, and to emerge a stronger, more efficient and profitable business. As we always say - the situation continues to be fluid, and whilst we were delivering the webinar, announcement were mades with regards to the Job Retention Scheme.
The government has extended the start date for eligibility for furlough to 19 March from original 28 February meaning thousands more employees will able to receive support through the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) as a result. The government also confirmed that the scheme is expected to be fully operational next week with the online portal due to go live on or around the 20 April to allow businesses to start filing their returns before the crucial PAYE payroll runs.
Following a review of the delivery system and to ensure the scheme helps as many people as possible, new guidance published today has confirmed the eligibility date has been extended to 19 March 2020 – the day before the scheme was announced. Employers can claim for furloughed employees that were employed and on their PAYE payroll on or before 19 March 2020.
This means that the employee must have been notified to HMRC through an RTI submission notifying payment in respect of that employee on or before 19 March 2020.