Coronavirus Job Retention Bonus

Post Author:

Anne Melville

Date Posted:

October 5, 2020

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Coronavirus

The Coronavirus Job Retention Bonus is a one off, taxable payment of £1,000 to be made to employers for each eligible employee who was furloughed and kept continuously employed until 31 January 2021.

The Job Retention Bonus can be claimed between 15 February 2021 and 31 March 2021 and does not need to be passed on to the employee.

The employer must have made an eligible claim for the employee via the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.  Note that the employer you can still claim the bonus if they make a claim for the employee via the new Job Support Scheme.

Eligible employees must:-

  • have been furloughed at some point and
  • be kept continuously employed, since the end of the claim period of your last Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme claim, until 31 January 2021 and
  • not be under notice at 31 January 2021 and
  • be paid at least the minimum income threshold

To meet the minimum income threshold the employee must be paid a total of at least £1,560 (gross) throughout the tax months:

  • 6 November to 5 December 2020
  • 6 December 2020 to 5 January 2021
  • 6 January to 5 February 2021

The employee must receive at least one payment of taxable earnings (of any amount) in each of the relevant tax months.

The minimum income threshold criteria apply regardless of:

  • how often the employee is paid
  • any circumstances that may have reduced your employee’s pay in the relevant tax periods, such as being on statutory leave or unpaid leave

HMRC will check that the minimum income threshold has been reached by scrutinising information submitted to them through Full Payment Submissions via Real Time Information (RTI).

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/check-if-you-can-claim-the-job-retention-bonus-from-15-february-2021

The information in this blog provides only an overview of HMRC guidance and legislation in force at the date of publication and no action should be taken without consulting the detailed HMRC guidance and legislation or seeking professional advice.  Therefore no responsibility for loss occasioned by any person acting or refraining from action as a result of the material contained in this blog can be accepted by the firm.

Photo by Campaign Creators on Unsplash

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