Furlough Pay New Phase – CJRS V2

The first version of the CJRS, whereby employees had to be furloughed full time, ended on 30 June and the deadline for claims is 31 July.

In its guidance, ICAEW’s tax faculty highlight that before HMRC published its full guidance there were suggestions that employers would have to make a CJRS V1 claim by 30 June to qualify to receive CJRS V2 grants.

However, this is not the case, and all businesses have until 31 July to claim CJRS V1 grants.

The main changes for CJRS V2 are that the grant is only available to employers that have made claims for grants under CJRS V1, and is only available for employees that were furloughed under CJRS V1. There are some specific exceptions, largely relating to for employees returning to work after parental leave and military reservists.

For CJRS V2 there is a new limit to the number of employees who can be included in a single claim, set at the maximum number ever claimed for in a single claim for that payroll in CJRS V1.

Under the second phase, employees can be flexibly furloughed, enabling part-time working, and there is no minimum furlough period.

Each claim made by an employer must be for a week or more unless the claims for an ‘orphan period’ at the beginning or end of a month.

The final date for submitting claims under CJRS V2 is expected to be 30 November.

Furlough claims must contain details of usual hours and actual hours worked, with furloughed hours calculated as the difference between these.