8 July: Employers who retain staff for three months after the furlough scheme ends will receive £1,000 government ‘bonus’ for each employee, the Chancellor has announced.

One of the main purposes of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) has been to support continued employment rather than face the prospect of mass redundancy.

In his Summer Statement, the Chancellor confirmed that the government is introducing a new Coronavirus Job Retention bonus to reward and incentivise employers who continue to employ their furloughed employees through to the end of January 2021.

The bonus will be:

• a one-off payment of £1,000,
• to UK employers,
• for every furloughed employee who remains continuously employed through to 31 January 2021.

Employees must earn above the National Insurance lower earnings limit (£520 per month) on average between 31 October 2020 when the CJRS ends and the end of January 2021.

The bonus payments will be made from February 2021.

Although a modest sum, this will undoubtedly be useful, coming at a time when those businesses which have deferred tax debts begin to work out how to pay these. For example, self assessment taxes due at the end of January (by the unincorporated business owner) and VAT at the end of March.

Further detail about the CJR bonus scheme will be announced by the end of July.