The Chancellor has announced that the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme will be extended from its initial 3 month period from 1 March 2020 to 31 May 2020 by a further 1 month, i.e. to the end of June 2020.
Those employees currently eligible for furlough leave will hopefully benefit from the scheme for at least the additional 1 month period, and possibly longer if the Chancellor extends yet again in a month’s time.
In addition, the date when the employee had to have been on the employer's payroll so as to qualify to be furloughed has changed from 28 February to 19 March 2020. This means that people who left their old job after 28 February 2020 to start a new job on or before 19 March 2020 will now qualify for the scheme.
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.
If you need further advice on the Job Retention Scheme, or any of the other measures in place to help businesses and employees during the coronavirus crisis, please
contact your local Moore adviser.