After spending the last weeks getting our head around the Job Support Scheme, boom, we are back to Furlough (or it’s official name The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme).
As part of Boris Johnson’s address on Saturday he mentioned “furlough”, and new “guidance” on the extension was issued straight away.
However, that guidance is far from complete, and many questions need answering before we can advise with any level of certainty.
Here’s what we do know…
The Furlough Scheme has been extended for a month to 30 November. For an employee to be eligible, they need to have been on a payroll run before 23:59 on 30 October 2020. Employers will have to pay the pension and employers NI costs. It will work as the Furlough scheme did in August.
Mortgage holidays will not end as planned. For borrowers who have been impacted by Covid-19 and have not had a mortgage payment holiday you will be entitled to a 6 month holiday. Those that have already started a mortgage payment holiday will be able to boost this for a further six months without this being recorded on their credit file. The FCA will announce further information shortly.
Businesses required to close in England due to local or national restrictions will be eligible for the following:
- For properties with a rateable value of £15k or under, grants will be available up to £1,334 per month or £667 per two weeks;
- For properties with a rateable value of between £15k and £51k, grants will be available up to £2,000 per month or £1,000 per two weeks;
- For properties with a rateable value of £51k or over, grants will be available up to £3,000 per month or £1,500 per two weeks.
For the self-employed:
- Self Employed people will be able to get 80% of average trading profits for November. SEISS grants are calculated over 3 month periods.
- There is an uplift for November to 80% and December and January will be 40% – which means that the overall grant level for the third grant will be 55% of the average trading profits.
- The grant window will now open on 30th November rather than 14th December as previously advised.
To be eligible for SEISS you must:
- Have been eligible for previous schemes even though you may not have claimed them, meaning you have submitted a 2018/19 Self Assessment.
- Declare that you intend to continue to trade and either be currently actively trading but are impacted due to reduced demand, or have previously traded but are temporarily unable to do so due to Covid-19.
As always, we’ll aim to keep you posted as soon as new information becomes available.
Keep an eye out on our social media channels for updates and eshots in your inbox. If you have the app, you’ll also receive updates and notifications when new information becomes available.