The job retention bonus is a £1,000 one-off taxable payment made to the employer, for each eligible employee that you furloughed and kept continuously employed until 31 January 2021. You do not have to pay this money to your employee.
The bonus can be claimed between 15 February 2021 and 31 March 2021. Information on how to access this claim will be updated by the end of January 2021.
Employers can claim for employees that:
- you made an eligible claim for under the coronavirus job retention scheme (CJRS)
- you kept continuously employed from the end of the claim period of your last CJRS claim for them, until 31 January 2021
- are not serving a contractual or statutory notice period for you on 31 January 2021 (this includes people serving notice of retirement)
You can claim the job retention bonus for individuals who are not employees, such as office holders or agency workers, as long as you claimed a grant for them under CJRS and the other job retention bonus eligibility criteria are met.
To be eligible for the bonus you must make sure that your employees have been paid at least the minimum income threshold.
To meet the minimum income threshold you must pay your employee a total of at least £1,560 (gross) throughout the tax months:
- 6 November to 5 December 2020
- 6 December 2020 to 5 January 2021
- 6 January to 5 February 2021
You must pay your employee at least one payment of taxable earnings (of any amount) in each of the relevant tax months.
The minimum income threshold criteria apply regardless of:
- how often you pay your employees
- any circumstances that may have reduced your employee’s pay in the relevant tax periods, such as being on statutory leave or unpaid leave
HMRC will check that your employees have been paid at least the minimum income threshold by checking information you have submitted through full payment submissions via real time information (RTI).
