The government has published further details of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) bonus, providing more clarity on eligibility requirements.
In the statement, it reconfirmed that employers will receive a one-off bonus of £1,000 for every employee who is brought back from furlough, if they remain at the business until the end of January 2021.
However, employees must earn at least the National Insurance lower earnings limit between November and January 2020, which currently stands at £520 a month.
Employers can also claim for any eligible employees that were furloughed after the CJRS cut-off date of 10 June, if they are returning from paternity leave or if they were part of the military reserve force.
Organisations will also be eligible to claim the bonus for any employees that have been transferred over from another organisation under the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations, as long as they match the other criteria outlined.
The government continues to pay 80% of an employees wages until the CJRS ends at the end of October 2020, however, from 1 August 2020, businesses will have to pay employers national insurance contributions and pension contributions for the hours the employee is on furlough
Rishi Sunak, chancellor of the exchequer, said: “Our successful furlough scheme will continue to help businesses and protect millions of jobs until the end of October, and our additional £1,000 job retention bonus will ensure this support continues as our economy reopens and people return to work.
“We will support jobs and businesses as we come out of this crisis just as we did as we came into it.”