Furlough Scheme Cut-Off Date Extended to 19 March  

Important change to the Coronavirus Business Support Scheme just announced:

Furlough Scheme Cut-Off Date Extended to 19 March  

Thousands more employees will be able to receive support through the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme after the Chancellor this week extended the eligibility date to 19 March 2020. Individuals originally had to be employed on February 28 2020.

Under the scheme, employers can claim a grant covering 80% of the wages for a furloughed employee, subject to a cap of £2,500 a month.

But following a review of the delivery system and to ensure the scheme helps as many people as possible, new guidance just published has confirmed the eligibility date has been extended to March 19 2020 – the day before the scheme was announced.

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 the RTI system on or before 19 March 2020.

The change is expected to benefit over 200,000 people.

HMRC has been working at pace to be ready to deliver the scheme, which is due to be fully operational next week.

Updated guidance for employers is available on GOV.UK

Updated guidance for employees is also available on GOV.UK

Self-employment Income Support Scheme 

Here also are links to detailed guidance for the Self-employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS):

How to claim a grant through the coronavirus Self-employment Income Support Scheme

How HMRC works out total income and trading profits for the Self-employment Income Support Scheme

HMRC recently updated the guidance to provide clarifications to some queries they have received, including:

• detail of the treatment of losses, averaging and multiple trades

• clarifications on the calculation of self-employed profits and what is meant by total income

• confirmation that individuals are able to continue working, including taking on employment role

• confirmation that owner-managers of Ltd companies can access the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) for their salary

• confirmation that individuals can access Universal Credit and the SEISS

• clarification on overlaps between the SEISS and CJRS (for example, you can claim the SEISS and continue working).