Top 10 things you need to know about the extended Furlough Scheme

1. Firstly, and perhaps most importantly the extended scheme in November mirrors the level of support in August – this means the employer is able to pay 80% of the normal wages up to a cap of £2500 (using the usual calculation for salaried workers vs casual workers)
2. Because the scheme is based on August you as the employer are liable for the cost of the Employers National Insurance and Pension Contributions
3. You are able to top up employee wages over the 80% at your own cost
4. The claiming process still needs to be built but there will be no gap in eligibility for the scheme (meaning if you pay early in November but the claim portal is not ready you will be able to claim retrospectively)
5. Employees can be flexibly furloughed or fully furloughed – you must report the usual hours worked in the period and the hours actually worked
6. When claiming for the grant employers will need to report and claim for a minimum of 7 consecutive days
7. To be eligible to be claimed for under this extension, employees must be on an employer’s PAYE payroll by 23:59 30th October 2020. This means a Real Time Information (RTI) submission notifying payment for that employee to HMRC must have been made on or before 30th October 2020.
8. Neither the employer or employees need to have made a previous claim to be eligible for support in the extended scheme
9. Payrolls are already showing concern about the 27/28th falling over a weekend in November meaning there will be reduced processing time for many payrolls with an end of month payment date
10. The Job Support Scheme, which was scheduled to come in on Sunday 1st November, has been postponed until the furlough scheme ends.

Phase 3 are on hand to offer support during this period. Visit our Covid 19 Hub for free Furlough Calculators, resources and claim templates.