As of Monday 20 April, HM Revenue & Customs opened the portal for employers who have furloughed staff to put in their claim for payment of 80% of wages (up to a maximum of £2,500 per month per furloughed employee).
To be eligible for the grant employers must confirm in writing to their employee that they have been furloughed. If this is done in a way that is consistent with employment law, that consent is valid for the purposes of claiming through the scheme. Collective agreement reached between an employer and a trade union is also acceptable for the purpose of such a claim. There needs to be a written record, but the employee does not have to provide a written response. A record of this communication must be kept for five years.
Employees must be furloughed for a minimum of 3 weeks. During this time the employee cannot do any work for the employer that has furloughed them.
The employee must have been employed on 19 March 2020 and been on your PAYE payroll on or before 19 March 2020 meaning an RTI submission must have been made to HMRC. If employees have been made redundant or they have stopped working for you after 28 February 2020 you can re-employ them and place them on furlough as long as the employee was on the payroll on or before 28 February 2020. Also if employees were made redundant or stopped working for the employer after 19 March 2020 they can be re-employed and placed on furlough, as long as they were employed on 19 March 2020 and were on the payroll on or before 19 March 2020. An RTI submission must have been made on or before 19 March 2020.
The scheme will run until the end of October 2020.
