The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme Claim System Goes Live

April 20th 2020

Good News! Today (April 20th) marks the official go live date of the HMRC system to allow you to claim under the Job Retention Scheme.

This scheme was announced back in March to allow you as an employer to claim 80% of your employees wages due to the effects caused by Coronavirus. With the enhancement of social distancing rules these measures have been extended until the end of June 2020.

Some important factors relating to employee eligibility which we need to make you aware of:

• You can claim for employees that were employed as of 19^th March 2020 and were on your PAYE payroll on or before that date; this means that you will have made an RTI submission notifying us of payment of that employee on or before 19^th March 2020
• Employees that were employed as of 28^th February 2020 and on payroll (i.e. notified to us on an RTI submission on or before 28^th 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.

More information on this can be found on GOV.UK.

Information you will need before you make a claim

In addition to the information in our previous email, you will need to have the following:

• 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; we will accept the following file types: .xls .xlsx .csv .ods.
• You can find out more in the calculation guidance where you can access a claim calculator – this will allow you to check your claim for most employees who are paid the same amount each pay period
• Access HMRC’s simple step-by-step guide for additional help.

How to claim

As you prepare to make a claim, please note:

• The online claim service will be launched on GOV.UK
• 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 or we can assist you with your claims.
• Claims will be paid within 6 working days; any queries contact us at any time.

As always if you require any clarity on this process contact our team for assistance at info@exchangeaccountants.com

If we are acting on your behalf:

Please note:

• 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 your 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.

After you’ve made a claim:

• Keep a note or a print-out of your claim reference number
• Retain all records and calculations for your claims, in case we or HMRC need to contact you about these
• Expect to receive the funds six working days after you apply, provided your claim matches records that HMRC hold for your PAYE scheme
• To receive payment by 30‌‌ April, you will need to complete an application by 22‌‌ April
• Please ask your furloughed employees not to contact us or HMRC directly – we will not be able to provide them with any information on individual claims.

Full guidance can be found on Gov.Uk or as always you can contact your representative at Exchange Accountants for any assistance.