Extension of the Self Employment Income Support Scheme Grant and Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme Grant
Government issued further guidance on 5 November 2020 regarding the extension of the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme Grant and the Coronavirus Job retention Scheme Grant.
We have provided a summary of the main points below:
Self-Employment Income Support Scheme Grant (“SEISS”)
The SEISS grant has been increased from the initial 40% to 80% as a result of the most recent lock down.
As with the previous grants, it will be calculated as 80% of trading profits up to a maximum of £2,500 per month for the next 3 months. Therefore, the maximum grant available is £7,500 (an increase of 100% from the initial grant intended for the three months to 31 January 2020).
The grant will be paid out in a single lumpsum.
The eligibility conditions are the same as for previous grants.
Self-employed individuals will be able to start submitting online claims for the grant as from 30 November 2020.
A second grant will be available for the period of 1 February 2021 to 30 April 2021. We will provide an update when HMRC issue further guidance, in due course.
Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme Grant (“CJRS”)
The CJRS grant was intended to end on 31 October 2020. However, because of the most recent lockdown, the CJRS grant has been extended to cover the period 1 November 2020 to 31 January 2020.
The grant will pay 80% of employees salaries for hours not worked, up to a maximum of £2,500. The £2,500 cap is proportional to the hours not worked.
Employer contributions during the CJRS extension until January will be the same as in August 2020. This means that for hours not worked by their employees, employers will only be asked to cover National Insurance and employer pension contributions.
The government will review the policy in January 2020 to decide whether economic circumstances are improving enough to ask employers to contribute more.
Some further considerations:
Employers can claim for employees who were employed and on their PAYE payroll on 30 October 2020. The employer must have made a PAYE Real Time Information (RTI) submission to HMRC between 20 March 2020 and 30 October 2020, notifying a payment of earnings for that employee.
Employees that were employed and on the payroll on 23 September 2020 who were made redundant or stopped working for their employer afterwards can be re-employed and claimed for. The employer must have made a PAYE Real Time Information (RTI) submission to HMRC from 20 March 2020 to 23 September 2020, notifying a payment of earnings for those employees.
Similarly, an employee who was on a fixed term contract, on payroll on 23 September, and that contract expired after 23 September can be re-employed and claimed for, provided that the other eligibility criteria are met.
An employer can fully furlough employees – this means the employee does no work for the employer.
An employer can flexibly furlough employees – this means employees can work for any amount of time, and any work pattern and claim the grant for the furloughed hours, with reference to hours the employee would usually have worked in that period.
How we can help
We could help by:
Checking your eligibility;
Calculate the amount of the grant that you might be eligible for;
Establish the date from which you could make a claim;
In the case of a CJRS grant, prepare the furlough letters to be provided to employees; and
Prepare and file a claims on your behalf so that the grant is paid directly into your bank account.
Finally, should you wish to talk through the above, please do not hesitate to contact us on 0208 191 9867 or at enquiries@alexandrwalker.com