Job Retention Bonus Policy Paper Released
A little while ago, Rishi Sunak announced the Job Retention Bonus: a £1000 bonus for employers per employee that they bring back from furlough and continually employ from when the CJRS ends on 31st October until the 31st January 2021.
If you’re a limited company director and you’ve needed to put yourself on furlough as result of COVID-19, you may have been waiting for additional news of whether or not you can qualify for this scheme. You don’t need to wait any longer as today the government released more information relating to the scheme and committed to providing full guidance by September 2020.
The full policy paper can be read here.
What do we know about the Job Retention Bonus so far?
The policy paper confirms that an employer will be able to claim the Job Retention Bonus for any employees eligible for the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme that they have claimed a grant for. It goes on to state that employers can claim the Job Retention Bonus for all employees who meet the below criteria, including company directors.
At this point it appears that directors of Personal Service Companies who placed themselves on furlough due to the economic impacts of Coronavirus will be able to make a claim for the £1,000 bonus provided they meet the following eligibility criteria.
You will be able to make a claim for yourself and any other employees of your business that:
- were furloughed and had a Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme claim submitted for them that meets all relevant eligibility criteria for the scheme
- have been continuously employed by your business since they returned from furlough until 31 January 2021
- have been paid an average of at least £520 a month between 1 November 2020 and 31 January 2021 and been paid each month with RTI submissions made to HMRC
- you have up-to-date RTI records for the period to the end of January
- are not serving a contractual or statutory notice period, that started before 1 February 2021
It is important to note that this is a taxable grant. Should you be eligible for the Job Retention Bonus the £1,000 will be included as income and subject to corporation tax.
What should I do now?
You cannot make a claim for a Job Retention Bonus until February 2021 so at this point, there is nothing more that you need to do. We will update our clients once the full guidance is released in September 2020.
Published on: 31 July 2020 - By: First Freelance
