HMRC published a paper providing further details on the Job Retention Bonus (JRB) on 31 July.
The JRB will be a taxable one-off payment of £1,000 for every employee who an employer has previously (and non-fraudulently) claimed for under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) and who remains continuously employed until 31 January 2021.
Employers may be eligible to claim a JRB in respect of employees who transferred to them whether either TUPE applies (or would have applied if it had not been for the previous employer's compulsory liquidation) or the PAYE business succession rules apply, provided that the new employer successfully claimed under the CJRS for the transferring employees. This won't apply to employees who transfer after 31 October 2020.
Employers will be able to claim for employees who:
- Were furloughed and had a CJRS claim submitted for them that meets all the eligibility criteria.
- Have been continuously employed by the employer from the most recent CJRS claim in respect of that employee to 31 January 2021.
- Have been paid at least £520 a month on average between 1 November 2020 and 31 January 2021 (a total of at least £1,560 over 3 months).
- Have up-to-date RTI records for the period up to 31 January 2021.
- Are not serving a contractual or statutory notice period that started before 1 February 2021.
Provided that these criteria are fulfilled, employers can claim a JRB for all employees including office holders, company directors and agency workers.
Employers will be able to claim the JRB from February 2021 through a government website. Further details of the process are due to be published in guidance about the scheme by the end of September 2020.
