The government created the Job Retention Scheme for employers and businesses, covering a percentage of salary for staff who are temporarily not working in the current climate. All employers can obtain grants from HMRC.

After a year and a half, and multiple iterations and extensions, the scheme is set to end on September 30th, 2021.

CJRS Claims For August

CJRS claims for August can now be submitted and must be made by Tuesday, September 14th.

For August and September, employers can claim 60% of furloughed employees’ usual wages for the hours not worked, up to a cap of £1,875 per month. They’ll need to contribute 20% of their own funds so that furloughed employees are paid at least 80% of their usual wages in total for the hours they do no work (up to a cap of £2,500 a month). September will be the last month of the CJRS.

If you are an employer who has claimed for your employees, here is what you need to do now:

  • Work out how much you can claim, and the contribution you’ll need to make to reach 80% of usual wages, by searching ‘Job Retention Scheme’ on the gov.uk website.
  • Submit any claims for August, no later than September 14th.
  • Keep records supporting the grants claimed, in case HMRC need to check them.
  • Make sure you continue to pay any CJRS related employee tax and National Insurance to HMRC or contact them if you’re struggling to pay.
  • Prepare for the scheme closing altogether on September 30th

If you have claimed too much of the CJRS grant and have not already repaid the over claimed amount, you can repay it as part of your next online claim without needing to call HMRC.

If you have claimed too much but do not plan to submit further claims, you can let HMRC know and make a repayment online through their card payment or by bank transfer – go to ‘pay Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme grants back’ on gov.uk.

Payment Deadlines

You must notify HMRC and repay the money by the latest of whichever date applies below:

  • 90 from receiving the CJRS money you’re not entitled to.
  • 90 days from the point circumstances changed so that you were no longer entitled to keep the CJRS grant.

If you do not do this, you may have to pay interest and a penalty, as well as repaying the excess CJRS grant. Search ‘interest rates for late and early payments’ on gov.uk.

If you have made a mistake in your claim that means you received too little money, you’ll need to amend your claim within 28 calendar days after the month the claim relates to – unless this falls on a weekend or bank holiday, where the deadline is the next Wednesday.

The deadline to amend claims for August is September 28th and for September claims the deadline will be October 28th.

Kass Verjee
Kass Verjee

Kass is not only a qualified bookkeeper/accountant but he is also a Fellow of The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales and has a full practising certificate.