Coronavirus Job Retention Bonus

For any small who have claimed the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme Grants to pay furloughed staff, you are now eligible to claim the Coronavirus Job Retention Bonus:

What is the Job Retention Bonus?

The Job Retention Bonus is a one time grant of £1000 per employee which provides additional support to employers who keep on their furloughed employees in employment, after the government’s Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme ends on 31 October 2020.

Who can claim?

The Job Retention Bonus of £1000 can be claimed for each employee who had previously been claimed for under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme and who remains continuously employed through to 31 January 2021.

Eligible employees must earn at least £520 a month on average between the 1 November 2020 and 31 January 2021 i.e a total of at least £1560 across the 3 months. Employers will be able to claim the Job Retention Bonus after they have filed PAYE for January and payments will be made to employers from February 2021.

The employee does not have to be paid £520 in each month but must have received some earnings in each of the three calendar months that have been paid and reported to HMRC via RTI.

How to claim:

From February 2021, employers will be able to claim the Job Retention Bonus through GOV.UK. More detail about this process will be published in guidance by the end of September 2020 and we will circulate this to you all as soon as we have sight of it.

IMPORTANT! What you should do now if you intend to claim the Job Retention Bonus:

If, as an employer, you intend to claim the Job Retention Bonus then it is absolutely essential that you now ensure your employee records are up-to-date, including accurately reporting your employee’s details and wages on the Full Payment Submission (FPS) through the Real Time Information (RTI) reporting system. You should also make sure all of your Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme claims have been accurately submitted and any necessary amendments have been notified to HMRC.

If you have any questions about this, or wish to discuss the Job Retention Bonus further, please do get in touch – either call me or send an email to our Business Advice Team.