Employment & Payroll Update

Job Retention Scheme

Access our templates and instructions to make your employee claims

Statutory Sick Pay update

Employers who are eligible include:

A refund of the full SSP paid that will cover up to 2 weeks’ SSP per eligible employee who has been off work because of COVID-19. It should be noted, I understand a Period of Incapacity to Work (PIW) is still required i.e. must be off sick for 4 days or more (it is expected this rule will be met due to the 7 plus days isolation). Where Armstrong Watson processes your payroll, please be advised our systems have already been updated to allow us to process SSP from day 1
Employers with fewer than 250 employees will be eligible - the size of an employer will be determined by the number of people they employed as of 28 February 2020 but all payments can be backdated to 13 March 2020. Where Armstrong Watson processes your payroll, should retrospective SSP be required, we will work out the payment for you.
Employers will be able to reclaim expenditure for any employee who has claimed SSP (according to the new eligibility criteria) as a result of COVID-19
Employers should maintain records of staff absences and payments of SSP, but employees will not need to provide a GP fit note. If evidence is required by an employer, those with symptoms of coronavirus can get an isolation note from NHS 111 online and those who live with someone that has symptoms can get a note from the NHS website. Where Armstrong Watson processes your payroll, whilst we do not record the days absent as this will remain the responsibility of the employer, we will be recording the amount of SSP paid
Eligible period for the scheme will commence the day after the regulations on the extension of SSP to those staying at home comes into force
The government will work with employers over the coming months to set up the repayment mechanism for employers as soon as possible. If Armstrong Watson processes your payroll, it is hoped the Government reclaim scheme will permit agents to do this on client’s behalf

Carrying Leave Over

Workers who have not taken all of their statutory annual leave entitlement due to COVID-19 will now be able to carry it over into the next 2 leave years. Learn more about Carrying Leave Over.

Working from Home Arrangements

If an employer chooses to pay the non taxable £6 per week home working allowance this can continue to be paid during the pandemic, providing the arrangement between employer and employee is in place and the employee is working from home regularly during this time.

Time to Pay

If you find you are struggling to pay your PAYE bill then all businesses and self-employed people who are in financial distress, and with outstanding tax liabilities, may be eligible to receive support with their tax affairs through HMRC’s Time To Pay service.

These arrangements are agreed on a case-by-case basis and are tailored to individual circumstances and liabilities.

To be eligible your business needs to:

Pay tax to the UK government
Have outstanding tax liabilities

If you take advantage of the TTP arrangements and Armstrong Watson process your payroll and, as a result, make the Bacs payment on your behalf to HMRC, please ensure you advise your administrator to prevent a payment going to HMRC.

Learn more about Time To Pay arrangements.

How to access the scheme:

If you have missed a tax payment or you might miss your next payment due to COVID-19, please call HMRC’s dedicated helpline on 0800 0159 559 or if you’re worried about a future payment, please call HMRC nearer the time.

Self-employed and payments

For the self-employed an automatic deferral of payments that were originally due 31 July 2020 will be deferred to 31 January 2021 – no application is needed.

Please visit the new Business Support Hub for advice or contact a member of our team.