Furlough Scheme Cut-Off Date Extended to 19 March
After listening to representations, the UK Government have expanded the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme to include all who were on a companies payroll up to the 19th March allowing employers to furlough all staff employed up to that date. The news was announced this afternoon along with an update on measures introduced by the UK Government to support employers and employees during the coming months.
Thousands more employees will be able to receive support through the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme after the Chancellor extended the eligibility date to 19 March 2020. Individuals originally had to be employed on February 28 2020.
Under the scheme, employers can claim a grant covering 80% of the wages for a furloughed employee, subject to a cap of £2,500 a month.
But following a review of the delivery system and to ensure the scheme helps as many people as possible, new guidance published today has confirmed the eligibility date has been extended to March 19 2020 – the day before the scheme was announced.
Employers can claim for furloughed employees that were employed and on their PAYE payroll on or before 19 March 2020. This means that the employee must have been notified to HMRC through the RTI system on or before 19 March 2020.
The change is expected to benefit over 200,000 people.
HMRC has been working at pace to be ready to deliver the scheme, which is due to be fully operational next week.
Updated guidance for employers is available on GOV.UK
Updated guidance for employees is also available on GOV.UK
