Job Support Scheme
Katy Cracknell • September 24, 2020
Rishi Sunak announced the Job Support Scheme earlier today and here’s what we know so far……
- The Job Support Scheme will be applicable from 1st November 2020 when the flexible furlough scheme comes to an end.
- It will run for 6 months and all SME’s are eligible even if they have not accessed the furlough scheme previously.
- The scheme will "support only viable jobs" as opposed to jobs that only exist because the government is continuing to subsidise the wages. It is still unclear what the exact criteria will be.
- To be eligible employees must have been on their employer's Real Time Information (RTI) submission on or before 23rd September 2020.
- Employees will need to work a minimum of 33% of their usual, contractual, hours.
- Of the remaining 66% of contractual hours, the government will pay1/3 of salary (22%) and the employer will pay another 1/3 (22%) meaning that the employee will receive 77% of pay in total.
- Government contributions will be capped at £697.92 per month.
- Employers will be reimbursed in arrears for the government contribution (although we’re still not sure how this will work)
- Employees are not eligible if they are on redundancy notice. This differs from the furlough scheme which did allow employers to continue to claim whilst employees were on redundancy notice.
- Working patterns can vary, but each period must cover a minimum period of seven days (we’re not yet clear on how this will have to be communicated and agreed between employers and employees)
- The scheme will not cover Class 1 employer NIC or pension contributions and the employer must continue to pay these.
- Employers can use the Job Support Scheme and claim the Job Retention Bonus if employees remain in employment until 1st February 2021.
We'll continue to provide updates as we receive them so keep checking back to ensure that you're fully up to speed with the latest news on the Job Support Scheme.
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