The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) has been extended until 30 April 2021.This was announced late last year and confirmed by the 5th Treasury Direction which

was issued on 26 January 2021.

Employees will receive 80% of their current salary for hours not worked, up to a

maximum of £2,500 per month. This cap is proportional to the hours not worked.

Employers will not be required to contribute or top-up for the hours not worked.

The government will meet the pay of the employee up to this cap, but the employer

remains responsible for meeting the pension and national insurance contributions (NIC)

costs. The employer will, of course, pay the employee for the hours actually worked in

the normal way.

This means that the extended CJRS scheme is more generous than it was in October

and therefore it will mirror the terms of the CJRS for August 2020.

To be eligible under this extension, employees must be on an employer’s PAYE payroll

by 23:59 30 October 2020. This means a Real Time Information (RTI) submission

notifying payment for that employee to HMRC must have been made on or before 30

October 2020.

The employee does not need to have been furloughed previously. This is a significant

change to the rules.

The grant must be paid to the employee in full.

CJRS extension claims must be submitted by 11.59pm 14 calendar days after the month

you are claiming for or the next working day where the 14th day falls on a weekend.

The Job Retention Bonus will not be paid in February 2021.

The Job Support Scheme (JSS) has now been postponed, presumably until the CJRS extension scheme ends.