Firms to start paying for furlough in August

A FINAL self-employment coronavirus grant is to be made available and businesses must start paying towards the worker furlough scheme fromAugust,theGovernment has announced.

Freelancers will be able to claim up to £6,570 from that date, giving those workers access to a total coronavirus grant of up to £14,070 each.

Businesses will also have to start paying National Insurance and tax contributions for staff in August, ramping up to 10% of furloughed wages in September and 20% in October.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak had previously announced the plan to get businesses to contribute to the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS), but he laid out further details yesterday.

He also revealed that workers can return parttime without losing any furlough payments from July – a month earlier than previously planned, following lobbying from businesses.

But businesses must start bearing the costs and from August all companies using the furlough scheme must start paying National Insurance and employer pension contributions.

In September and October contributions will rise to 10% and 20% respectively, the Chancellor added, but workers still furloughed will keep getting 80% of their wages up to £2,500 a month.

The Government will cover 70% of wages up to £2,190 in September, with employers to pay National Insurance and pension contributions and 10% of wages, representing 14% of the gross employment costs.

The following month, the Treasury will pick up 60% of wages up to a cap of £1,875, with employers paying tax contributions and 20% of wages, representing 23% of the gross employment costs, the Government said.

It added that only 40% of businesses had claimed the pension contributions since the scheme was launched.

Officials added that companies can be flexible with theirdefinitionof“part-time” as long as a full-time employee has not returned to normal hours.

The Treasury said: “Individual

firms will decide the hours and shift patterns their employees will work on their return, so that they can decide on the best approach for them – and will be responsible for paying their wages while in work.”

Since it was launched, the CJRS has been used by one million businesses to support 8.5 million jobs, at a cost of £15 billion so far.

The scheme is expected to cost a total of around £80 billion, or £10 billion a month,althoughtheOfficefor Budget Responsibility is set to publish detailed costs next week.

Business groups had asked the Government to ensure that those industries suffering hardest were most protected.

But the Treasury said it was not always clear which sector a business was in, insisting it would not rule out future support if required.