CJRS portal to open next week as firms look for it to be extended beyond May

HMRC is gearing up to open it Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) web portal on Monday 20 April and it anticipates that the payments to firms will start to be made from 25 April onwards. But business is seeking confirmation from Government that the scheme will be extended beyond the end of May.

The news come as cash starved businesses look to government to get liquidity into businesses across the the economy, however pressure is growing on government to confirm that CJRS will continue beyond the end of May. At a CBI briefing led by its director general Carolyn Fairbairn, business leaders warned that redundancies could start to be announced from 18 April onwards.”

Firms planning more than 100 redundancies are required to give 45 days notice and start consultation. Where there are more than 20 potential redundancies then 30 days notice is necessary.

HMRC has been advising firms about change to the CJRS relating to employee eligibility:

• you can claim for employees that were employed as of 19 March 2020 and were on your PAYE payroll on or before that date; this means that you will have made an RTI submission notifying us of payment of that employee on or before 19 March 2020
• employees that were employed as of 28 February 2020 and on payroll (i.e. notified to us on an RTI submission on or before 28 February) and were made redundant or stopped working for you after that, and prior to 19 March 2020, can also qualify for the scheme if you re-employ them and put them on furlough.

More information on this can be found on GOV.UK.

How to claim

As you prepare to make a claim, please note:

• the online claim service will be launched on GOV.UK on 20‌‌ April 2020 – please do not try to access it before this date as it won’t be available
• the only way to make a claim is online – the service should be simple to use and any support you need available on GOV.UK; this will include help with calculating the amount you can claim
• claims will be paid within 6 working days; you should not contact us unless it is absolutely necessary – any queries should be directed to your agent, representative or our webchat service

Information you will need before you make a claim before 20‌‌ April 2020:

• a Government Gateway (GG) ID and password – if you don’t already have a GG account, you can apply for one online, or by going to GOV.UK and searching for ‘HMRC services: sign in or register’
• be enrolled for PAYE online – if you aren’t registered yet, you can do so now, or by going to GOV.UK and searching for ‘PAYE Online for employers’
• the following information for each furloughed employee you will be claiming for:

1. 1. Name.
   2. National Insurance number.
   3. Claim period and claim amount.
   4. PAYE/employee number (optional).

• if you have fewer than 100 furloughed staff – you will need to input information directly into the system for each employee
• if you have 100 or more furloughed staff – you will need to upload a file with information for each employee; we will accept the following file types: .xls .xlsx .csv .ods.

HMRC also advise firms should retain all records and calculations in respect of claims.

Guidance on GOV.UK is being regularly updated so please review it frequently.