Boris Johnson yesterday announced a four-week lockdown in England starting 5 November (to be reviewed 2 December) together with the following:

The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme 

(CJRS) also known as the Furlough Scheme will be extended into the month of November and mirror levels available in August.

Employees will receive 80% of their current salary for hours not worked up to a cap of £2,500.

Businesses will have flexibility to bring furloughed employees back to work on a part time basis or furlough them full-time.

Employers will only be asked to cover National Insurance and employer pension contributions for the hours the employee does not work.

Employers are still able to choose to top up employee wages above the scheme grant at their own expense if they wish.

Employees must be on an employer’s PAYE payroll by 23:59 30th October 2020. 

Employees can be on any type of contract.

Employers will be able to agree any working arrangements with employees.

Employers can claim the grant for the hours their employees are not working, calculated by reference to their usual hours worked in a claim period. 

When claiming the CJRS grant for furloughed hours, employers will need to report and claim for a minimum period of 7 consecutive calendar days.

Employers will need to report hours worked and the usual hours an employee would be expected to work in a claim period.

For worked hours, employees will be paid by their employer subject to their employment contract and employers will be responsible for paying the tax and NICs due on those amounts.

The Job Support Scheme (JSS), which was scheduled to come in on Sunday 1st November, has been postponed until the furlough scheme ends.

Business Grants

Business premises forced to close in England are to receive grants worth up to £3,000 per month under the Local Restrictions Support Grant:

For properties with a rateable value of £15k or under, grants to be £1,334 per month, or £667 per two weeks.

For properties with a rateable value of between £15k-£51k grants to be £2,000 per month, or £1,000 per two weeks.

For properties with a rateable value of £51k or over grants to be £3,000 per month, or £1,500 per two weeks.

Self-employed Income Support Scheme (SEISS) – No Change

Self-employed workers will get two more SEISS grants as part of the Winter Economy Plan.

The third SEISS grant will cover up to 40% of average monthly profits from November 2020 to January 2021, up to a maximum of £3,750.

The deadline has not yet been announced.

Details of the fourth grant covering a percentage of average income spanning February to April 2021 will be announced in due course.

Local Authorities

£1.1bn is to be given to Local Authorities to support businesses more broadly.

Mortgage Holidays

Mortgage holidays will be extended beyond 31 October.