The Job Support Scheme will be open from 1 November 2020 and run for 6 months, until 30 April 2021. The government will review the terms of the scheme in January. Employers will be able to claim in arrears from 8 December 2020, with payments made after the claim has been approved. Neither the employer nor the employee needs to have benefitted from the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme to be eligible for the Job Support Scheme.
Further guidance on the steps that employers need to take to calculate and make a claim to the Job Support Scheme will be published by the end of October.
Employers facing decreased demand (JSS Open).
The employee will need to work a minimum of 20% of their usual hours and the employer will continue to pay them as normal for the hours worked. Alongside this, the employee will receive 66.67% of their normal pay for the hours not worked – this will be made up of contributions from the employer and from the government. The employer will pay 5% of the reference salary for the hours not worked, up to a maximum of £125 per month, with the discretion to pay more than this if they wish. The government will pay the remainder of 61.67%, of reference salary for the hours not worked, up to a maximum of £1,541.75 per month. This will ensure employees continue to receive at least 73% of their normal wages, where they earn £3,125 a month or less.
Employers who are legally required to close their premises (JSS Closed).
Each employee who cannot work due to these restrictions will receive two thirds of their normal pay, paid by their employer and fully funded by the government, to a maximum of £2,083.33 per month, although their employer has discretion to pay more than this if they wish . This will help protect employee incomes, limit unemployment and retain employer-employee matches so that these premises are able to reopen as quickly as possible when circumstances allow.
Employees may also be entitled to additional financial support, including Universal Credit.
Eligibility criteria for all aspects of the Job Support Scheme.
The following eligibility criteria apply to all employers and/or employees being claimed for under the Job Support Scheme, whether the employer is claiming the JSS Open grant or the JSS Closed grant. An employer can claim the JSS Open and JSS Closed grant at the same time for different employees. An employer cannot claim for a single employee under both schemes at the same time.
A full breakdown of the eligibility criteria can be found here in the full guidance.
If you have any questions regarding the Job Support Scheme please email us at accounts@gwcox.co.uk or call us on 01255 850 002
