Further information has now been published on the Government’s Job Retention Bonus (JRB) which was first announced on 8 July 2020 as part of the “Plan for Jobs”.
Under the JRB, there will be a one-off payment to employers of £1,000 for each employee in respect of whom the employer has previously claimed under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) and who remains continuously employed by the employer until 31 January 2021. Employees must have been paid an average of £520 per month between 1 November 2020 and 31 January 2021 to qualify, and must not be serving a contractual or statutory notice period that started before 1 February 2021 when the claim is made.
HMRC reserves the right to withhold payments where it believes that there is a risk that any CJRS claims may have been fraudulent or inflated.
Employers will not be eligible for JRB payments in respect of any employees who they inherit under TUPE after 31 October 2020.
The payment is to the employer and there is no obligation to pass this on to the employee. As eligibility for the scheme is based on previous CJRS claims, it appears that the JRB is only applicable where the same employee remains in the employment until 31 January 2021. As such, whilst the scheme is designed to reward employers who have stable workforces, if an employee chooses to leave a role prior to 31 January 2021, it appears that the employer will not be able to claim under the scheme even if they replace the employee and there has been a continuous requirement for the role throughout.
