The Government has announced that the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) - also known as the Furlough scheme, has been extended until the end of September 2021. 

You can find further information about the extended scheme from Gov.uk

Key details about the CJRS extension

• For periods from 1 November 2020, the UK Government pays 80% of wages for the hours furloughed employees don't work, up to a cap of £2,500.
• In July 2021, this reduces to 70% of wages with a cap of £2187.50, then from August 2021 this reduces to 60% of wages with a cap of £1875. 
• You have to cover their wages for any hours they work, and including all employer National Insurance and employer pension contributions
• You can choose to top up your furloughed employees’ wages beyond the 80% paid by the UK Government for hours not worked, but you aren't required to do so.
• There is no gap in support between the previously announced end date of CJRS and this extension
• You can claim for employees who were on your PAYE payroll on 30 October 2020
• You must have made an RTI submission to HMRC between 20 March 2020 and 30 October 2020, notifying a payment of earnings for that employee
• If employees were on your payroll on 23 September 2020 i.e. you notified HMRC on an RTI submission from 20 March 2020 to 23 September 2020 and were made redundant or stopped working for you afterwards, they can also qualify for the scheme, if you re-employ them
• Neither you or your employee needs to have previously used the CJRS
• The CJRS extension will be reviewed in January to examine whether the economic circumstances are improving enough for employers to be asked to increase contributions
• HMRC has advised claims can be made for extended CJRS from 8am Wednesday 11 November
• The deadline for claims made for November was 14 December 2020. If you didn't submit a claim by this date, HMRC may still accept it if there's a reasonable excuse for not claiming by the deadline - Read more >

What you can do now

• Check if your employees are eligible for the scheme, based on the information above
• Agree working hours with your employees, so they know if they are furloughed fully or part-time during November
• Read more details about the extended CJRS
• If you have an urgent query about CJRS, contact HMRC employers helpline

Monthly deadlines

To help you plan ahead to meet the montly deadlines, check the following table of the key dates you need to know.

Further support and information

Now HMRC has confirmed full guidance details, to support you through the next round of claims, we're doing the following:

• Sage 50 Payroll - we've released an update to the Job Retention Scheme Module. You can also find information via the Advice Centre in your product.
• If you don't use the Job Retention Scheme Module - you can use manual reports to help you to generate the relevant information. Read more >
• Instant Payroll - we've updated our guidance on manual processing. Read more >

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