2020 has been a conundrum of a year and the future of being able to sit next to one of our colleagues or, hug our loved ones, appears to be far in the distance.
As we all know, running your own business means facing challenges and getting past the barriers that often appear without notice just when you don’t need the hassle. The gatekeepers to this particular barrier for this year, are ‘Batman and Robin’, aka Messrs B Johnson and R Sunak.
In early September Sunak announced the Coronavirus Job Support Scheme, which was introduced to replace the furlough scheme. However, on the 22nd October, he has announced further changes that have been made to reflect the tier 2 and tier 3 lockdown measures. The important question is, what has changed and is it a positive change for you?
What does this mean for you as a business owner?
Under the new rules, employees only need to work 20% of their usual hours to benefit from the Job Support Scheme. Employers will now have to only contribute 5%, as oppose to the 33% that was highlighted in the original announcement of the JSS. In turn, this will result in the government now paying 62% of a worker’s wage for the period that they are unable to work.
This is good news if you are in a position where you are unable to offer your staff their full working hours!
The Job Retention Bonus
If you are able to commit to the Job Support Scheme, the government has announced that they will be offering the Job Retention Bonus – £1000 one-off taxable payment to the employer. This does not need to be given to the employee and in essence is a ‘reward’ that is given for keeping the country moving, by keeping people in jobs. This can be accessed between 15th February 2021 to the 31st March 2021.
If you have any questions arising from this article or need some assistance, please contact us on 0121 631 3000.
By J Kaur