Coronavirus Job Retention Bonus – Further guidance issued

As part of his plan for job retention , Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced that UK employers would receive a one-off bonus of £1,000 (“JRB”) for each furloughed employee who is still employed as of January 31 2021. 

This bonus is for the employer and the monies do not need to be passed on to the employee, unlike the funds received as part of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (“CJRS”). 

Employers will be able to claim for employees they have previously claimed for under the CJRS, as long as the employee has remained in continuous employment through to January 31 2021. Employees claimed for must also earn at least £520 a month, on average, between November 2020 and January 31 2021. 

Claims can be made for the bonus after an employer has filed their PAYE for January 2021 and payments will be processed from February 2021. 

Employers are advised that they should ensure that: 

• PAYE has been filed and paid, accurately and on-time in line with current obligations under the Real Time Information (RTI) for all employees; 
• Enrolment has been maintained for PAYE online; 
• Employers hold a UK bank account. 

Payroll records must be kept up-to-date with accurate information. Any request from HMRC to provide missing employee data in respect of historic CJRS claims must be upheld. Any failure to do so could endanger an employer’s claim. 

Employers can claim the JRB for all employees who meet the above conditions, which also includes office holders, company directors and agency workers, including those employed by umbrella companies. 

Employers are reminded that this one-off payment of £1,000 per eligible employee is taxable, so the employer must include the whole amount as income when calculating the taxable profits for corporation tax or self-assessment. 

Further guidance can be found here https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/job-retention-bonus/job-retention-bonus. 

For further information or support on the CJRS please contact the COVID-19 support team at covid19support@aab.uk