HM Treasury has confirmed that statutory and contractual notice periods will not be covered by the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme from 1 December and that details of future claims will be published online. For claim periods starting on or after 1 December, employers cannot claim for any days between 1 December and 31 January 2021, during which the furloughed employee was serving a contractual or statutory notice period – this includes people serving notice of retirement or resignation.
If an employee subsequently starts a contractual or statutory notice period on a day covered by a previously submitted claim, employers will need to make an adjustment.
“If you make an employee redundant, you should base statutory redundancy and statutory notice pay on their normal wage rather than the reduced furlough wage,” adds the HM Revenue and Customs guidance.
The guidance also outlines that employers making a CJRS claim accept that HMRC will publish information about their claims online, including the employer’s name and an indication of the amount of money claimed. Businesses that can demonstrate that publication would expose their workforce to a “serious risk of violence or intimidation” can be exempted.
Any employee that was employed and on payroll on 30 October – providing the organisation has made a PAYE RTI (Real Time Information) submission to HMRC since the scheme began in March – is eligible.
This is a key change, as previously employers have been able to claim through the CJRS for employees who were serving their notice period. If you have an employee who is currently serving their notice period, you can claim for their wages under the CJRS up until 1st December 2020. For any days in the employee’s notice period falling after 30th November 2020, you won’t have the ability to claim any reimbursement under the scheme.
If you have any questions regarding claiming through the CJRS, please contact your usual Partner or Manager, who will be happy to help.
