If you have staff, including apprentices, you’d otherwise have to lay off due to the Covid-19 outbreak, the CJRS will pay a portion of an employee’s salary, up to a maximum of £2,500 a month.

The CJRS has now been extended until 30 September 2021, which was announced in the Chancellor’s Spring Budget.

The grant available through the CJRS is 80 per cent of wages up to a cap of £2,500.

From 1 July 2021, the level of grant will be reduced and you’ll be asked to contribute towards the cost of your furloughed employees’ wages. Your contribution will be 10 per cent in July and 20 per cent in August and September.

You don’t need to contribute for the hours the employee doesn’t work – you’ll only pay employer National Insurance Contributions (NICs) and pension contributions.

You can use ‘flexible furloughing’ as well as full-time furloughing, and you can top up your employee’s wages if you want to. When on furlough, employees can’t do any work that makes money or provides services for you. And if you’ve made employees redundant since 23 September 2020, you can rehire and furlough them.

The government has postponed the Job Retention Bonus, which was due to be a one-off £1,000 payment for each employee kept on after furlough.

How do I get this support?

The extension will work in the same way as the previous version of the scheme. Gov.uk says that claims can be made:

• in respect of an employee for a minimum seven day claim window
• in advance

All employers with staff can claim support – you don’t need to have used the scheme previously. You should be using a UK bank account and UK PAYE.

The application process involves:

1. Identifying your employees as ‘furloughed workers’, which means staff who have to take unpaid leave
2. Telling the affected employees in writing they’re now furloughed or flexibly furloughed
3. Working out how much you need to claim for using the government calculator

You can read more about claiming through the furlough scheme at gov.uk.