Wednesday's Coronavirus Update

Hello everyone…

Welcome to Wednesday’s update and (it seems) to summer, too…

Okay – a really short update today based on a question we received from a couple of people – about deferring payments on account due in July until January 2021.

We thought the answer to this question was an easy one but it turned out to be a conundrum (yes, a conundrum) and we had to do some digging around HMRC.

The issue was this:

The deferment of the payments on account due to be made by 31^st July was originally just for the self-employed…

However, I found this entry on another website:

‘… HMRC have updated their website to confirm that everyone within Self-Assessment is eligible to defer their second payment on account due on 31 July 2020 not just the self-employed…’

So, I checked it out with HMRC – although it took a bit of digging - I eventually got the answer I was looking for on webchat.  Here’s a snip of the convo.

'...Self Assessment customers who are due to pay their second payment on account by 31 July 2020 may defer payment until 31 January 2021.  This will be done automatically there is no need to apply for this.  A deferrment is available to any self assessment tax payer who has difficulty in paying their payment on account by 31 July 2020 due date...'

So, there we are – if you complete a self assessment and you have a payment on account to make in July 2020 you can defer it to 31^st January 2021.

You don’t have to do anything to defer – just don’t make the payment.  You won’t be charged interest nor penalties.

If you’ve already made the payment and you’d prefer not to you can request a refund from HMRC of the payment made – you have to do this before 31^st July.

That’s it for today everyone… and please keep the questions coming and we’ll share with everyone else.

See you Friday.

Rowena

NEWSFLASH:

Just heard the news from Nicola Sturgeon (not personally, you understand) that there’s a relaxation of the lockdown rules.  More details later but these are the highlights:

From July 3^rd we can travel around the country for leisure and not be restricted to the 5 mile limit

We can also visit self catering accommodation such as holiday cottages or caravans
From July 6^th beer gardens and other outdoor hospitality such as restaurants and cafes will open –as long as we don’t have an uptick in the virus
From July 13^th shopping centres can open and organised sport for children and young people will resume
From July 15^th tourism should be up and running – indoors and outdoors

More details will follow and all this subject to social distancing and assumes there’s no increase in the spread of the virus.

Of course you’ll want to have a think about all this… but if it immediately changes your thoughts about furloughing staff do get in touch and we can talk about it.

Speak soon.

Rowena

Thursday's Coronavirus Update

Hello everyone…

Yes, it’s a Thursday update this week rather than Friday.

No particular reason other than I really need to share some information with you about the Job Retention Scheme which is changing from 1^st July.

Job Retention Scheme

I’ve written about the changes to the scheme before but I want to give you a few more details because it’s… well, complicated.

So, I’ve explained in the past about the introduction of the Flexible Furlough from 1^st July onwards.  Essentially this means that an employer can bring back a staff member part time and pay them for the hours worked, whilst the government will pay 80% of the salary for the time when the team member couldn’t work.

There’s been a fair amount of detail put out by HMRC about all this so I thought I’d just give you more of the highlights… if they can be called that!

Claim Periods

First of all in the new scheme claim periods can’t overlap a calendar month.

This is because the scheme is changing on the 1^st of each month starting from 1^st July.

·         1^st July – part-time furloughs start

·         1^st August – employers can’t claim NI or pension payments

·         1^st September – claim amount drops to 70% of salary – employers make up the rest

·         1^st October – claim amount drops to 60% of salary – employers make up the rest

So, all claims for staff on furlough in June can only run up to 30^th June and be claimed by 31^st July… even if someone continues to be furloughed full time in June and July.  In other words there will be a claim for furloughed days in June and another one for the furloughed days in July.

Up until now we’ve tried to keep the furlough claims (wherever we can) in line with your pay periods – we may not be able to do that in future.

For claims starting on or after 1^st July – the claim can only start and end in the same calendar month.  Claims have to be for at least seven days – unless the period of the claim includes either the first or last day of the calendar month and the period immediately before it has already been claimed for.

Essentially this means that the furlough calculations (which we thought were complicated before) are about to get hugely complicated!

Other requirements

There’s quite a lot to the small print.  I’ve read through the detail and pulled out the most important bits… but there’s lots more.  Have a look at these requirements:

•                     You can only make one claim for any period so you must include all furloughed or flexibly furloughed employees in one claim even if you pay them at different times

•                     If you make more than one claim, your subsequent claim cannot overlap with any other claim that you make

•                     Where employees have been furloughed or flexibly furloughed continuously (or both), the claim periods must follow on from each other with no gaps in between the dates

•                     You can claim before, during or after you process your payroll; you can usually make your claim up to 14 days before your claim period end date and do not have to wait until the end of a claim period to make your next claim

•                     When claiming for employees who are flexibly furloughed, a claim should not be made until you are sure of the exact number of hours, they will have worked during the claim period

•                     This means that you should claim when you have certainty about the number of hours employees are working during the claim period

Phew!

I need to lay down in a darkened room.

You can read more about the scheme (if you want to or you have trouble sleeping) here:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/steps-to-take-before-calculating-your-claim-using-the-coronavirus-job-retention-scheme

Extra record keeping

When first furloughing employees you will have had a chat with them and given them a letter confirming the change to their contract.

If you are going to furlough staff part time a new written agreement will need to be in place confirming the new arrangements.

I can’t give you a sample of this agreement (not being an HR lawyer and all that) so please do get some advice about this if you need it.

There’s also some extra record keeping relating to the payroll – of course we’ll look after this bit if we’re running your payroll.  This is what we’ll keep a records of:

•                     The usual number of hours each employee would normally work in the claim period.

•                     The number of hours each employee will work in the claim period, and

•                     The number of furloughed hours the employee has been furloughed for in the claim period

The real reason I’m telling all this is because, of course, we’ll help you through this process and will continue to file claims for you – but we’ll need extra information from you.  We’ll try to get all the information from you in one go but as we may just need to come to you more than once as we get used to the new calculations and the info that’s needed.

What I’m really doing is asking for your patience as we get to grips with the new calculations!

Self Employment Income Support Scheme

Last thing for today…

HMRC have published the first minor update to their SEISS guidance.

They have confirmed that to qualify for the second grant under this scheme, businesses had to be adversely affected on or after 14 July 2020, together with all of the other criteria relating to the first grant.

It’s a minor point but if HMRC are flagging it up they must think it’s important.

I think that’s enough for today!

As always, any questions please do get in touch and we’ll answer any specific questions that you have about your own situation.

See you soon!

Rowena

A One-Off Thursday Coronavirus Update

Hello everyone

Surprise!

A Thursday update this week instead of the usual Wednesday.

I promise it’s a quickie today and it relates to getting back to work…

One of our clients recommended an online course to us.  It’s about what you need to do if you run a bar, café, an office or a shop and you want to learn more about how to make your place safe for re-opening.

It’s free and takes about forty minutes to complete.  It covers things like how to complete a risk assessment, what signage is needed as well things like how to support team members returning to work who may suffer with a mental health issue.

Over and above this there’s a folder of resources – with posters, suggested floor markings and even risk assessment forms.

And… this was the clincher for me… you get a certificate at the end of the programme.

You can get to the programme here:

https://www.cpllearning.com/online-courses/ready-to-serve-manager-reopening-following-lockdown

This programme is actually aimed at managers and owners of businesses (although interesting enough for everyone) but there’s a second programme coming, I think tomorrow, which provides information for team members.

Once again I believe the team member’s course is free of charge AND they get a certificate too!

Just a quick disclaimer (sorry): we have no affiliation to CPL Learning, it’s just a programme that has been recommended to us by a client and we thought it was worth passing on.  We don’t take any responsibility for the content of the programme and if you choose to follow the programme we recommend you read CPL’s terms and conditions because any come back will be on them rather than us.

Sorry about that – I almost feel like a lawyer.

I promised you a short one today – so see you tomorrow.

Rowena