July 1 changes to the UK Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme

As part of the Government's response to COVID-19, HMRC created the 'Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme' (CJRS). You can apply for a grant via this online scheme if you cannot maintain your current workforce because your operations have been severely affected by coronavirus.

July 1 changes to the Job Retention Scheme

From 1 July , employers can bring furloughed employees back to work for any amount of time and any work pattern, while still being able to claim the grant for the hours not worked.

• Only employees that employers have successfully claimed a previous grant for will be eligible for more grants under the scheme.
• This means they must have previously been furloughed for at least 3 consecutive weeks taking place any time between 1 March and 30 June 2020.
• For the minimum 3 consecutive week period to be completed by 30 June, the last day an employee could have started furlough for the first time was 10 June.
• Parents returning to work after extended parental leave are eligible for furlough

Grant reductions from August 1

From 1 August 2020, the level of grant will be reduced each month, and employers will be asked to contribute towards the cost of their furloughed employee’s wages.. To be eligible for the grant, employers must pay furloughed employees 80% of their wages, up to a cap of £2,500 per month for the time they are being furloughed. 

See more information on the timetable for changes to the scheme.

KeyPay and the UK Job Retention Scheme 

There are a number of options available in KeyPay that you could use to assist you with furloughing employees.

1. If you wish to keep furloughed employees separate in the payroll you could set up a new location which can act as a separate department to allocate the employees to.
2. You can set up a new pay category and call this, for example '80% furlough salary' and pay furlough employees under this pay category.

KeyPay's furloughing report

If you go with option 2, you're able to generate a report based on the pay category you've used for your furlough payments. KeyPay allows you to create a partially completed template report that can be used to claim via the online portal, reducing any manual efforts and making it super easy to claim for furloughed employees.

Check out our support article for more information. The HMRC online portal is open and is designed to be self-serve with guidance in place. Please click here for HMRC's guide to claiming.

Keep up to speed on the latest legislation changes and managing COVID-19 related payroll processes in KeyPay via our COVID-19 Hub.

The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme will close on 31 October 2020.