Client Update:
The Job Retention Bonus
At the back end of last week, the Treasury issued a Direction setting out further details of the Job Retention Bonus. To accompany the Direction, some guidance and some working examples of employees who trigger the bonus were also released and links to these are below.
We would encourage employers who are interested in claiming the bonus to read the guidance but in terms of some headline points, we can confirm the following:
- the Job Retention Bonus is available to employers in respect of each employee who (a) has been on furlough at some point; and (b) remains employed, and not under notice either on grounds of redundancy, resignation or otherwise, on 31 January 2021.
- HMRC will make a payment of £1,000 to the employer for each eligible employee. This is a bonus to the employer, and the employer does not have to pass it over to the employee.
- to receive the bonus, the employer must have paid a salary of at least £1,560 to the employee between 6 November 2020 and 5 February 2021 (this will mean that the bonus cannot be claimed for zero hours employees who are not given work during the period in line with the minimum requirements).
- a claim for the bonus needs to be presented in a 6 week window between 15 February and 31 March 2021. The Treasury Direction does not specify how the claim is to be made, but further guidance is expected.
Employer Guidance can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/check-if-you-can-claim-the-job-retention-bonus-from-15-february-2021
Working examples can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/find-an-example-of-employees-and-the-minimum-income-threshold-for-the-job-retention-bonus/example-of-employer-deciding-which-employees-will-meet-the-minimum-income-threshold-for-the-job-retention-bonus
