Following last week’s (22 October) announcement by the Chancellor of further changes to the Job Support Scheme, HMRC has published more details on the Job Support Scheme which has been split into two sections which are to be known as JSS Open and JSS Closed.
For an employer to claim under JSS Open, an employee will need to work at least 20% of their normal hours. They will receive normal pay for the hours they work which will be paid by the employer.
For the hours they do not work they will receive two-thirds of pay (subject to a cap). Of that top-up, the employer will pay 5% and the government will pay 61.67%.
The employer must also pay NI and pension contributions on the full amount. The amounts to be paid under the scheme are to be reviewed and updated as the current situation unfolds.
JSS Closed remains as previously announced, in effect a variation on the furlough scheme with the employee receiving two-thirds of their normal wages, funded by the government (again subject to a cap). As with JSS open, the employer will have to pay the NI and pension contributions on that amount.
As with the furlough scheme, there must be a written agreement confirming the employee’s agreement to the changes and the employee must be on short time working (or not working at all) for a minimum of seven days. Employees can be brought on and off the scheme as circumstances dictate.
All SMEs are eligible, and large business are eligible if their turnover has fallen due to coronavirus as assessed by a Financial Impact Test (which requires a comparison of sales records in this year’s VAT return against last year’s).
HMRC will reimburse in arrears for salary monies already paid and the first claims can be made in December 2020.
Importantly (and in contrast to the furlough scheme) employers cannot claim for an employee who has been made redundant or is serving a contractual or statutory notice period during the claim period.
The scheme is complex and further details are expected over the course of the next few days. If you have any queries, please contact us on 0345 656 0406 or fill in our online enquiry form and a member of the Team will be in touch.