Job Support Scheme
The Job Support Scheme has been delayed as the Coronavirus Job Retention scheme has been extended.
The Job Support Scheme has been delayed as the Coronavirus Job Retention scheme has been extended.
The Job Support Scheme has been delayed. It will replace the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme once the scheme ends.
Businesses that are operating but facing decreased demand can get support for wages through JSS Open.
Those businesses that are legally required to close their premises as a direct result of Coronavirus restrictions can get the support they need through JSS Closed.
JSS Open will give employers the option of keeping their employees in a job on shorter hours rather than making them redundant.
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 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.
Some employers have been legally required to close their premises as a direct result of coronavirus restrictions. For these businesses, the Job Support Scheme, through JSS Closed, will help them through the period that they are directly affected by these restrictions by supporting the wage costs of employees who have been instructed to cease work in eligible (closed) premises.
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 the 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.
Employers:
Employees:
Employers cannot claim both JSS Open and JSS Closed in respect of a single employee for the same day. Employees do not need to have been furloughed under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme to be eligible.
Read the Job Support Scheme Factsheet for more information and examples of payment calculations.
In addition to general eligibility, employers are eligible to claim the JSS Open if:
an employer with 250 or more employees on 23 September 2020 has undertaken a Financial Impact Test demonstrating their turnover has remained equal or fallen to show they have been adversely affected due to coronavirus; an employer with less than 250 employees on 23 September 2020 is not required to satisfy the test
some, or all, of their employees are working reduced hours - employees must still be working for at least 20% of their usual hours
In addition to the general Job Support Scheme eligibility criteria, employers are eligible to claim JSS Closed if:
Businesses premises required to close as a result of specific workplace outbreaks are not eligible for this scheme.
Employers are only eligible to claim for periods during which the relevant coronavirus restrictions are in place. Employers will not be able to claim JSS Closed to cover periods after restrictions have lifted and the business premises is legally allowed to reopen.
Eligible employers will be able to claim the JSS Closed grant for employees:
whose primary workplace is at the premises that have been legally required to close as a direct result of coronavirus restrictions set by one or more of the four governments of the UK
that the employer has instructed to and who cease work for a minimum period of at least 7 consecutive calendar days
The Job Support Scheme grant will not cover National Insurance contributions (NICs) or pension contributions. These contributions remain payable by the employer.
Employers must deduct and pay to HMRC income tax and employee NICs on the full amount that is paid to the employee, including any amounts subsequently met by a scheme grant.
Employers must also pay to HMRC any employer NICs due on the full amount that that is paid to the employee, including any amounts subsequently met by a scheme grant.
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