Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme has changed: What employers need to know
Posted: Tue 1st Sep 2020
The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS), which covers the part of the salaries for furloughed workers during the pandemic, has changed.
Since August, employers have had to cover furloughed employees' National Insurance and pension contributions from their own funds. From 1 September, they now need to pay a proportion of staff salaries. Here are the changes you need to know:
CJRS will pay 70% of usual wages up to a cap of £2,187.50 per month for the hours furloughed employees do not work.
Employers will still need to pay their furloughed employees at least 80% of their usual wages for the hours they do not work, up to a cap of £2,500 per month. Employers will need to fund the difference between this and the CJRS grant themselves.
The caps are proportional to the hours not worked. For example, if the employee is furloughed for half their usual hours in September, the employer is entitled to claim 70% of their usual wages for the hours they do not work up to £1,093.75 (50% of the £2,187.50 cap)
**An Enterprise Nation guide to the Job Retention Scheme is here.
Full government guidance to the Job Retention Scheme is here.
From February 2021, employers will be able to a claim at £1,000 Job Retention Bonus for each worker they bring back from furlough. Read a guide here.**