The Corona Virus Job Retention Scheme was first announce on 20th March 2020 by Rishi Sunak, the Chancellor of the Exchequer to tackle potential mass redundancies & company bankruptcies. The scheme intends to provide grants to employers by means of compensating 80% of their staff wages per month. The maximum wage amount is £2,500 a month, or £576.92 a week. This is the upper limit of the amount you can claim for your employee’s wages.
The legal basis of the scheme is provided by the UK Treasury direction, and the guidance on the scheme operation is provided by HMRC, and HMRC online portal require employees to have a declaration that they have complied with the guidance rather than the direction. It seems clear that HMRC intends to act on the basis of the guidance, and it views the guidance as being in line with the Treasury direction.
Following the second lockdown announcement in UK on 31 October 2020, The CRJS has been announced (on 05th November) to be further extended until the end of March 2021. Any employer in the country operating a PAYE scheme as of 19 March 2020 (the day before the scheme was announced) is eligible for the scheme.
The deadline is set to be 30th November 2020 for all employers who intend to submit their CRJS claims, or changes to such claims for the periods ending on or before 31 October 2020. However, from 01st November 2020, all claims for furlough days must be made by 14 calendar days on the following month.
Submission dates
| Claim for furlough days in | Claim must be submitted by |
| November 2020 | 14 December 2020 |
| December 2020 | 14 January 2021 |
| January 2021 | 15 February 2021 |
| February 2021 | 15 March 2021 |
| March 2021 | 14 April 2021 |
Detailed operating guidance can be found in HMRC official website through: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/claim-for-wages-through-the-coronavirus-job-retention-scheme