First and foremost, the claim can be made only for those furloughed employees who were employed on 19 March 2020 and who were on your PAYE payroll on or before 19 March 2020. This means an RTI submission notifying payment in respect of that employee to HMRC must have been made on or before 19 March 2020. However, refer the table below for some specific cases:
| S. No. | Type of employment | Can claims be made? |
| 1 | If you made employees redundant or they stopped working for you after 28 February | If such an employee was on your PAYE payroll as of 28 February 2020, you can re-employ them, put them on furlough and claim for their wages from the date on which you furloughed them, even if you do not re-employ them until after 19 March 2020. |
| 2 | If you made employees redundant or they stopped working for you after 19 March 2020 | If such an employee was employed on 19 March 2020 and was on your PAYE payroll on or before 19 March 2020, you can re-employ them, put them on furlough and claim for their wages through the scheme from the date on which you furloughed them. |
| 3 | Contract employees | Employees who started and ended the same contract between 28 February 2020 and 19 March 2020 will not qualify for this scheme. |
| 4 | Employees on a fixed-term contract | 1) An employee on a fixed-term contract can be re-employed, furloughed, and claimed for if either: a) their contract expired after 28 February 2020 and an RTI payment submission for the employee was notified to HMRC on or before 28 February 2020 b) their contract expired after 19 March 2020 and an RTI payment submission for the employee was notified to HMRC on or before 19 March 2020 2) If the employee’s fixed-term contract has not already expired, it can be extended, or renewed. You can claim for them if an RTI payment submission for the employee was notified to HMRC on or before 19 March 2020. |
| 5 | If your employee had multiple employers over the last year and has worked for only one of them at any one time | If such an employee is being furloughed by the current employer then the other ex-employers should not re-employ and furlough him/her. |
| 6 | If your employee has more than one job simultaneously | Such employees can be furloughed for each job separately, and the cap shall apply to each employer individually. They may be furloughed in one job and receive a furloughed payment but continue working for another employer and receive their normal wages. |
| 7 | If your employees are working reduced hours | Such employees shall not be eligible for the scheme since they are not being furloughed. |
| 8 | If your employee is on unpaid leave | 1) If the unpaid leave began after 28 February 2020: Such employees can be put on furlough and claims can be made for them. 2) If the unpaid leave before 28 February 2020: Such employees can be furloughed only after the date on which it was agreed they would return from unpaid leave. |
| 9 | If your employee is self-isolating or on sick leave | The employees cannot get both furlough pay and sick pay at the same time. It is up to employers to decide whether to furlough these employees or pay Statutory Sick Pay. a) If an employer decides to furlough the employee: They will be eligible for CJRS and expenditure can be reclaimed through this scheme. b) If an employer decides to pay Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) to the employee: They will be able to claim a rebate for SSP as per SSP Rebate Scheme provided relevant conditions are met. |
| 10 | Shielding Employees | Those employees who are shielding in line with public health guidance or staying home with someone who is shielding can be furloughed and shall be eligible for the claim under CJRS. |
| 11 | Employees with caring responsibilities | Such employees can be furloughed. |
| 12 | Apprentices | They can be furloughed and still continue to train whilst furloughed. However, they must be paid at least the Apprenticeship Minimum Wage/National Living Wage/National Minimum Wage (AMW/NLW/NMW) as appropriate for all the time they spend training. This means an employer will have to cover any shortfall between the amount claimed for their wages through this scheme and their appropriate minimum wage. |
Eligible Individuals WHO are not Employees
| 1 | Office Holders | They can be furloughed. |
| 2 | Company Directors | If they are salaried directors then they can be furloughed. While on furlough they can carry out duties to fulfill the statutory obligations they owe to their company but they should not carry out any activity that generates commercial revenue or provides services to or on behalf of their company. |
| 3 | Directors of Personal Service Company | They can be furloughed. |
| 4 | Company directors with an annual pay period | Such directors paid annually are eligible to claim, as long as they meet the relevant conditions. Payment of earnings in the 19/20 tax year needs to be notified to HMRC on an RTI submission on or before 19 March 2020 to be eligible for the scheme. |
| 5 | Salaried Members of Limited Liability Partnerships (LLPs) | Such members of LLP designated as employees for tax purposes (‘salaried members’) under the Income Tax (Trading and Other Income) Act (ITTOIA) 2005 are eligible to be furloughed and receive support through this scheme. |
| 6 | Agency workers | The agency workers who are paid through PAYE, including those working under an umbrella company shall be eligible for this scheme. The furlough will then be agreed between the agency and worker. Further, where agency provides clients with workers employed by an umbrella company that operates the PAYE, it will be for the umbrella company and the worker to agree on whether to furlough the worker or not. Once an agency worker has been categorised as furloughed he/she should take up no work on behalf of an agency or for the agency client. |
| 7 | Limb (b) Workers | 1) If they are paid through PAYE: They can be furloughed 2) If they pay tax on their trading profits through Income Tax Self-Assessment: They shall be eligible for grant under SEISS instead of CJRS. |
| 8 | Contingent workers in the public sector | HMRC has issued a guidance note on Payments to Suppliers for Contingent Workers impacted by COVID-19. Click here to read the guidance note. |
| 9 | Contractors with public sector engagements in scope of IR35 off-payroll working rules (IR35) | Most of the public sector bodies will follow the Crown Commercial Services guidance. Few which are not required to follow the Crown Commercial Services guidance can claim under the CJRS. Contractors who are deemed employees will be furloughed after confirming this with both the contractor’s Personal Service Company (PSC) and the fee-payer. The fee payer will enter the shoes of the employer and carry out all the requirements of the CJRS. |
| 10 | Employee transfers under TUPE and on a change in ownership | The new employer shall be eligible for making claims under CJRS with respect to employees of a previous business transferred after 28 February 2020 provided either the TUPE or PAYE business succession rules apply to the change in ownership. |
Other Cases
| 1 | Payroll consolidation | Where a group of companies has multiple PAYE schemes decide to switch into a new consolidated PAYE scheme after 28 February 2020 resulting in the transfer of all employees into the new scheme, then the new scheme will be eligible to furlough those employees and claim the grants available under the CJRS. |
| 2 | If the employee is on maternity leave, adoption leave, paternity leave, shared parental leave or parental bereavement leave | Such employees can be furloughed. However, you may need to calculate your employee’s average weekly earnings differently. |
| 3 | If your employee gets Maternity Allowance | The employees cannot get both furlough pay and maternity allowance at the same time meaning they need to choose either one of them. If they agree to be put on furlough and end their maternity leave early, they will need to give you at least 8 weeks’ notice and they will not be eligible for furlough pay until the end of the 8 weeks. |
Note: Please note that the content of the above blog and the aforementioned
information are
solely for the purpose of awareness and are informative in nature. The content is designed
with intent to ease the understanding while preserving the essence and importance of the
compliance rules and shall not be considered as an ultimate replication of the rules. Debitam does not own any responsibility whatsoever for any unpleasant event that may
arise due to the misinterpretation of a specific part or whole of the information.
