Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) portal
The CJRS portal, through which employers can reclaim 80% of furloughed employees’ usual monthly wage costs (up to a limit of £2,500 per employee), went live at 5.30am this morning. It can be accessed via the Government Gateway.
Early reports suggest that the CJRS portal is relatively easy to use and seems to be working quite well. On Friday evening (17th April 2020), the Government published its step by step guide for employers on how to reclaim employees’ wages through the CJRS. We would urge employers to read the step by step guide and gather all the required information before logging on to make a claim because, according to the guide, an application needs to be done in one session, there is no ‘save and return’ option and sessions time out after 30 minutes’ inactivity!
Further updates to the CJRS
On Friday 17th April, we reported that the CJRS had been extended to 30th June 2020 (having previously been set to close on 31st May 2020).
The Government has since published a new guide to calculating 80% of an employee’s wages for the purposes of claiming under the CJRS, which features an online calculator and includes useful guidance on which payments can be taken into account (e.g. ‘regular wages’, non-discretionary overtime, non-discretionary commission payments) and which cannot (e.g. tips, discretionary bonuses, discretionary commission payments, non-monetary benefits).
The Government has also provided slightly more clarity on the issue of employees taking annual leave whilst on furlough. They have done this via updates to the Employee’s Guidance on the CJRS (but not as yet, the Employer’s Guidance) which states:
You can take holiday whilst on furlough. Working Time Regulations (WTR) require holiday pay to be paid at your normal rate of pay or, where your rate of pay varies, calculated on the basis of the average pay you received in the previous 52 working weeks. Therefore, if you take holiday while on furlough, your employer should pay you your usual holiday pay in accordance with the WTR. Employers will be obliged to pay the additional amounts over the grant, though will have the flexibility to restrict when leave can be taken if there is a business need.
However, the Treasury Direction (which was made under the Coronavirus Act 2020 and sets out the legal basis for the CJRS) does not comment on this issue. Therefore, whilst employees can seemingly take annual leave while on furlough and receive their normal pay for it (although this is not set out in the Treasury Direction or Employer’s Guidance), important questions remain such as whether an employer can compel an employee to take annual leave during furlough (thereby using up holiday entitlement partly at the expense of the CJRS). The Employee Guidance goes on to say that:
During this unprecedented time, we are keeping the policy on holiday pay during furlough under review.
Therefore, we anticipate further guidance on this tricky issue in due course.
We have updated our main blog to reflect the most recent developments relating to the CJRS.
How Nelsons can help
Peter Nicholson is an Associate in our specialist Employment Law team.
For further information or to comment on this article, please contact Peter or a member of the team in Derby, Leicester or Nottingham on 0800 0241 976 or via our online form.