Support in payroll for furloughed workers

As part of a support package of measures designed to help UK businesses through the coronavirus pandemic, the government has introduced the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.

This temporary scheme allows employers to “furlough” employees and apply for a grant that covers 80% of their usual monthly wage costs, up to a maximum of £2,500 a month. You and your clients can find out the full details of the scheme on the government’s website.

As part of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, employers will need to submit details of any furloughed employees to HMRC. The new furlough processing system is now live and we’ve been working hard to create new tools to help simplify the claims process for you and your clients. Employers are expected to receive the money within six working days of submitting an application, so if your clients get their application in soon they could even get the money into their accounts in time for this month’s payroll.

If you use FreeAgent’s payroll on behalf of clients

If you use FreeAgent’s payroll on behalf of your clients, you can now amend employee payslip details to include furloughed days. You can then produce a monthly report containing the details your client will need for their Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme claim.

We’ve tried to make the process as easy as possible, and you can read more about it over on our Knowledge Base.

If you don’t use FreeAgent’s payroll on behalf of clients

If you don’t use FreeAgent’s built-in payroll system on behalf of your clients, we can still help out.

We’ve created a free coronavirus furlough claim calculator on our website which produces the same numbers your clients will need for a Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme claim, albeit with a bit more manual data entry when they make the claim.

We’re working hard to rapidly adapt FreeAgent to help you and your clients navigate through the coronavirus crisis, so keep an eye out for further developments or speak to your account manager if you have any thoughts or feedback.