Changes to the Job Support Scheme

The Government have announced today (22/10/20) some important changes to the Job Support Scheme (JSS) which starts on the 1st November and runs for 6 months.

It was originally published that an employee must work a minimum of 33% of their usual hours (initially for the first three months of the scheme).

This has now been reduced to 20%, meaning that employees working as little as one day a week are now eligible for the scheme.

Employees must not be under notice of redundancy.

Employees do not have to work the same hours or working pattern and can drop in and out of the scheme depending on what work you have available although each minimum period under the scheme must cover a period of seven days.

A further change is that the employer contribution to the ‘unworked’ hours has been significantly reduced from 33% to just 5%.

The Government will top up the rest.

We are awaiting further detailed guidance however we assume the following existing principles still apply:

• The Government’s contribution is capped at £697.92 per month.
• The scheme does not cover Class 1 employers’ NI or pension contributions and these will remain payable by the employer.
• To access the scheme, employees do not have to have been furloughed previously although must be on your PAYE payroll on or before 23 September 2020.
• This means an RTI submission to HMRC must have been made on or before 23 September.
• The JSS scheme will be open to receive claims in December 2020 and claims will be paid on a monthly basis.

The announcement from the Government can be read in full below.

Chancellor increases financial support for businesses and workers