Over the weekend The Government announced a number of financial measures to help businesses help pay their staff. Below is a summary of the measures announced.
Coronavirus Job retention scheme
The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme is a temporary scheme open to all UK employers for at least three months starting from 1 March 2020. You must have created and started a PAYE payroll scheme on or before 28 February 2020 and have a UK bank account.
Update: 27th March 2020:
The government has announced that directors in PSC’s will be covered for their salary by the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (if they are operating PAYE schemes). Read More
Support for businesses who are paying sick pay to employees
Employers will be able to reclaim SSP paid for sickness absence paid to employees due to COVID-19. This is a departure from standard SSP as this is a company cost and not refundable. The refund will cover up to 2 weeks’ SSP per eligible employee who has been off work because of COVID-19 from day one of sickness. The government is setting up a repayment mechanism over the forthcoming months to deal with this.