Job Retention Bonus

You will be able to claim a one-off payment of £1,000 for every eligible employee you furloughed and claimed for through the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) and kept continuously employed until at least 31‌‌‌‌‌‌ January 2021. Employers do not have to pay this money to their employees.

Who can claim

You can claim the bonus if you’re an employer who has furloughed employees and made an eligible claim for them through the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme. Your employee must have been eligible for the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme grant for you to be eligible for the bonus.

You can still claim the bonus if you make a claim for that employee through the Job Support Scheme.

If you have repaid Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme grant amounts to HMRC

You cannot claim the bonus for any employees that you have not paid using the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme grant because you have repaid all the grant amounts you claimed for them. This applies regardless of the reason why you repaid the grant amounts.

Employees you can claim for

You can claim for employees that:

• you made an eligible claim for under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme
• you kept continuously employed from the end of the claim period of your last Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme claim for them, until 31 January 2021
• are not serving a contractual or statutory notice period for you on 31 January 2021 (this includes people serving notice of retirement)
• you paid enough an amount in each relevant tax month and enough to meet the Job Retention Bonus minimum income threshold

The minimum income threshold

To be eligible for the bonus you must make sure that your employees have been paid at least the minimum income threshold.

To meet the minimum income threshold you must pay your employee a total of at least £1,560 (gross) throughout the tax months:

• 6 November to 5 December 2020
• 6 December 2020 to 5 January 2021
• 6 January to 5 February 2021

You must pay your employee at least one payment of taxable earnings (of any amount) in each of the relevant tax months.

The minimum income threshold criteria apply regardless of:

• how often you pay your employees
• any circumstances that may have reduced your employee’s pay in the relevant tax periods, such as being on statutory leave or unpaid leave

HMRC will check that your employees have been paid at least the minimum income threshold by checking information you’ve submitted through Full Payment Submissions via Real Time Information (RTI).

What payments are included in the minimum income threshold

Only payments recorded as taxable pay will count towards the minimum income threshold. Taxable pay is reported to HMRC as a single figure through Full Payment Submissions via Real Time Information (RTI).

Find examples of employees and the minimum income threshold.

Get ready to claim

Before you can claim the bonus, you will to need to have reported all payments made to your employee between 6 November 2020 and 5 February 2021 to HMRC through Full Payment Submissions via Real Time Information (RTI).

There are some steps you need to take now to make sure you’re ready to claim.

You must:

• still be enrolled for PAYE online
• comply with your PAYE obligations to file PAYE accurately and on time under Real Time Information (RTI) reporting for all employees between 6 April 2020 and 5 February 2021
• keep your payroll up to date and make sure you report the leaving date for any employees that stop working for you before the end of the pay period that they leave in
• use the irregular payment pattern indicator in Real Time Information (RTI) for any employees not being paid regularly
• comply with all requests from HMRC to provide any employee data for past Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme claims

Using an agent to do PAYE online and claim the Job Retention Bonus

If you use an agent who is authorised to do PAYE online for you, they will be able to claim the Job Retention Bonus on your behalf.

This guidance will be updated by the end of January 2021 with details on how agents can claim the bonus for you.

Tax treatment of the Job Retention Bonus

You must include payments you receive under the scheme as income when you calculate your taxable profits for Income Tax and Corporation Tax purposes.

Businesses can deduct employment costs as normal when calculating taxable profits for Income Tax and Corporation Tax purposes.

Individuals with employees that are not employed as part of a business (such as nannies or other domestic staff) will not have to pay tax on grants received under the scheme.

When the government ends the scheme

You will have until 31 March 2021 to make a Job Retention Bonus claim after which the scheme will close. No further claims will be accepted after this date.