My understanding up until this point is the I, as the employer, will pay any furloughed staff the 80% of their salary and then claim it back from HMRC however a friend's daughter was told yesterday she will get paid by HMRC and her boss cannot guarantee when this will be. (HMRC apparently "aim" to pay within 6 working days)
Obviously 2 very different scenarios and with the system on HMRC not being set up until Monday 20th April...and highly likely to crash on day one...I'm wondering if this is going to be a massive clusterfuck and people will get paid late etc etc
Anyone got any insight on this as much of the wording I have found online is so fucking woolly and non--comittal however I found something on the CIPD website yesterday that implied HMRC will be paying the individuals however my accountant is of the opinion I will pay it and reclaim.
Poxy virus!
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What my accountants sent me.
Dear Ben,
FURLOUGH/JOB RETENTION SCHEME
The Furlough/Job Retention Scheme will be going live next Monday 20th April 2020 and we wanted to ensure that you as a valued client of Sargeant Partnership are fully up to date on all the latest information regarding the scheme and are fully prepared and ready to be able to access and use the scheme.
IMPORTANT UPDATE TO SCHEME
The chancellor announced an important update to the scheme this week surrounding employee eligibility. This related to the date in which employees needed to be employed on to qualify for the scheme, which was previously set at 29th February 2020, however this has now changed to 19th March 2020 as follows:-
For those employers that run monthly payrolls and make their RTI submissions at the end of the month any employees who started employment between 1st March 2020 and 19th March 2020 would not have been included on an RTI submission prior to 19th March 2020.
For these employees we would suggest that you amend and re-submit your February RTI submission to include these employees noting their start date so that they are included and therefore eligible for the scheme even though no payment had been made yet.
More information on this can be found on GOV.UK
HOW TO CLAIM
As mentioned above the scheme will be going live on Monday 20th April 2020. Please don’t try to access it before then as you will not be able to.
It is a scheme that can only be accessed online through GOV.UK and full support on how to use the scheme including how to calculate the claim amount will be available on line through GOV.UK
Claims will be paid within 6 working days; you should not contact HMRC unless it is absolutely necessary – any queries should be directed to us as your agent or the HMRC webchat service
HMRC cannot answer any queries from employees – they will need to raise these with you, as their employer, directly.
WHAT INFORMATION WILL YOU NEED TO CLAIM?
We have been talking to all our clients explaining what information and systems they will need in place to be ready to make a claim and below is a complete summary of what you will need in place: -
ASSISTANCE WITH MAKING A CLAIM
If we are authorized to act for you in respect of PAYE matters, we will be able to deal with the claims on your behalf. This will be the case for clients where we provide a Payroll service.
For clients that we do not provide a Payroll service for or who we don’t have authority for, we can still assist with your claims and provide advice as to how to use the service, however we won’t be able to talk with HMRC or login on your behalf.
We have recently requested authorisation codes for all our payroll clients that we don’t have authority set up for and therefore if you do receive a code please could you forward it on to either your Client Manager or our Payroll Manager Jane Croxton.
If you will be processing the claims yourself as advised above you will need a PAYE HMRC login account that can take up to 10 days to be set up, therefore we would suggest that you ensure this is in place if required so that it does not cause any further delays. If you need any help with this please let either your client Manager or our Payroll Manager Jane Croxton know.
If we are dealing with the claim for you, in order to ensure funds are paid as quickly as possible to you, then you will need to tell us which UK bank account you want the grant to be paid into.
Please also ensure you retain all records and information in respect of your claims.
VAT PAYMENT DEFERMENT SCHEME
As previously advised if you are a UK VAT registered business and have a VAT payment due between 20 March 2020 and 30 June 2020, you have the option to:
You will still need to submit VAT Returns on time, however no interest or Penalties will be charged on any deferred payments of VAT following the chancellor’s announcement.
If you choose to defer the payment you will have until 31 March 2021 to make the payment.
You do not need to advise HMRC as this is an automatic deferment.
Please note though that for anyone who pays by Direct Debit and wishes to defer their VAT payment then they must cancel their Direct Debit with their Bank otherwise the payment will be taken as normal. This can easily be done online through your online banking facility
VAT refunds will be processed as normal.
All VAT payments due following this deferment period should be paid as normal.
FURTHER ASSISTANCE FOR ANYONE FACING FINACIAL DIFFICULTY
Please note that for anyone experiencing financial difficulties more help is also available from HMRC’s Time to Pay service. This service allows entities to discuss their difficulties with HMRC and come up with a plan to assist you during this challenging time.
Finally, we just want to reiterate that we understand that these are difficult and challenging times for all our clients and that you will be relying on us to provide advice and support you.
We therefore would urge you to please get in contact with us should you have any concerns or challenges facing you as we will be happy to assist and help you through this period.
(You can choose to pay the staff anything between 80% and 100% of their normal salary. You can defer other payments such as pension contributions. You have to have seek and get the agreement of the staff).
I'll let my mate's daughter know her boss has the wrong end of the stick (or is maybe just trying it on)
Thanks for posting this thread, her Company are bloody useless so wont be surprised if they manage to f**k up
Nothing was followed by her company as she's just told me that the form had to be signed in front of them etc. yet it was all done over the phone
Another Employee even got told over text message
This is a Company though that deliberately f**ked up my wife's Maternity Pay so she had no choice to go back to work early (else we were financially f**ked), they then paid what was due over the next few months
Given the vast majority of furloughed staff will be receiving 80% of their normal pay, this seems to me like a pretty fair way of doing things. Hope and expect that we can return to full rate and full hours by the end of June.
Yes you are correct - it is a minefield for small businesses.
My Mrs’s firm, Estée Lauder, have told her that she is on this and will get paid 100% of here basic as normal. They will then be claiming the 80% back from HMRC.
She has been doing loads of conference calling and has been given "exercises" to do during the last couple of weeks, which I thought would be against the rules (seeing as the Government are paying her), but she was told that as long as she isn't selling for them, they can ask her to carry on? She doesn't mind this, but she has recently been asked to pretend she a QVC presenter and film herself selling certain things. It’s all supposedly meant to be good for their wellbeing, but it's been giving her sleepless nights at the moment.....
"4) Employer refusing furlough as it doesn't have the cash for salaries in the meantime? You can agree to delayed pay. The state will cover furloughed employees' salaries from March to May. Firms should be able to apply for this cash next week, and receive it hopefully days after that. Many people have reported to me that their firms are so short of cash to pay now, they won't furlough but instead offer unpaid leave/redundancy.
So many have asked if their firm could delay their pay. The Govt told me that's a matter between employer and employee. So you and your employer can agree it can pay you a little later (it's better than nowt), though best it's done via a formal agreement."
Sounds like Estee Lauder are completely manipulating the system. They are offering the goodwill of the 20% extra (which they have absolutely no legal obligation to do) but she should not be doing any work whatsoever.
Even if she worked 30 hours a week and they have reduced this to 6 hours for 20% of her wages, that's forbidden. Very naughty of them there.
One thing I keep reading is reports of business owners stuck between a rock and a hard place, which is understandable and must be really difficult, but what stumps me is how some refer to the low salary they take, an example was two painter and decorators who take £600 a month each as salary, surely thats against minimum wage rules (unless they are only working about 65 hours a month), or does that not apply if you own the business?
'Furloughed employees can engage in training, as long as in undertaking the training the employee does not provide services to, or generate revenue for, or on behalf of their organisation or a linked or associated organisation. Furloughed employees should be encouraged to undertake training.
Where training is undertaken by furloughed employees, at the request of their employer, they are entitled to be paid at least their appropriate national minimum wage for this time. In most cases, the furlough payment of 80% of an employee’s regular wage, up to the value of £2,500, will provide sufficient monies to cover these training hours. However, where the time spent training attracts a minimum wage entitlement in excess of the furlough payment, employers will need to pay the additional wages (see National Minimum Wage Section for more details).'
all you need to know about Furloughing and the Job Retention Scheme -
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/claim-for-wage-costs-through-the-coronavirus-job-retention-scheme#employees-you-can-claim-for