Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme – Furloughing: How to claim…

The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) was announced on 20 March 2020 and the furloughing of some staff has taken place, HMRC have now set out how claims should be made and when.

Below we are outlining the steps you can take to make your claim whether you make that independently or if you would like us to claim on your behalf.

This page will be kept up to date with all the latest developments with this process as they are announced.

The online claim service launches on 20 April 2020, no claims can be submitted before then.

In order to support you further, David Howard, one of our executive managers will be coordinating all clients’ claims for furloughed staff and/or advising on the process. His contact details can be found on the right as well as the senior members of our Payroll team.

Before making your claim it is important to ensure eligibility of your employee

• you can claim for employees that were employed as of 19 March 2020 and were on your PAYE payroll on or before that date; this means that you will have made an RTI submission notifying HMRC of payment of that employee on or before 19 March 2020
• employees that were employed as of 28 February 2020 and on payroll (i.e. notified to HMRC on an RTI submission on or before 28 February) and were made redundant or stopped working for you after that, and prior to 19 March 2020, can also qualify for the scheme if you re-employ them and put them on furlough.

There is more information at GOV.UK or you can check out our FAQs on CJRS

Information you will need before you make a claim

You will need to have the following before 20‌‌ April 2020:

• a Government Gateway (GG) ID and password – if you don’t already have a GG account, you can apply for one online, or by going to GOV.UK and searching for ‘HMRC services: sign in or register’
• be enrolled for PAYE online – if you aren’t registered yet, you can do so now, or by going to GOV.UK and searching for ‘PAYE Online for employers’
• the following information for each furloughed employee you will be claiming for:

1. Name.
2. National Insurance number.
3. Claim period and claim amount.
4. PAYE/employee number (optional).

• if you have fewer than 100 furloughed staff – you will need to input information directly into the system for each employee
• if you have 100 or more furloughed staff – you will need to upload a file with information for each employee; HMRC will accept the following file types: .xls .xlsx .csv .ods.

Preparing to claim

• the online claim service will be launched on GOV.UK on 20‌‌ April 2020 – please do not try to access it before this date as it won’t be available
• the only way to make a claim is online – the service should be simple to use and any support you need available on GOV.UK; this will include help with calculating the amount you can claim
• you can make the claim yourself even if you usually use an agent
• claims will be paid within 6 working days; HMRC advise that you should not contact them unless it is absolutely necessary – therefore, please direct any queries to us as your agent, or the HMRC webchat service
• HMRC will not answer any queries from employees – they will need to raise these with you, as their employer, directly.

If you would like Rayner Essex to act for you

• Contact us
• if we are authorised to act for you on PAYE matters we can make the claim on your behalf using your ID and password
• you will need to tell us which UK bank account you want the grant to be paid into, in order to ensure funds are paid as quickly as possible to you.

You should retain all records and calculations in respect of your claims.

For further information and advice please contact one of our experts listed on the right or if you would like us to contact you then please fill out the form below.

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