JDP News

HMRC has announced that the CJRS will be live from Monday 20th April 2020.

In preparation for this Paytec-Online has updated its Covid-19 page with advice and forms to help you get your claim started.

We are still extremely busy and our small team is working under unprecedented levels of pressure but we will deal with all of your claims in turn.

Many thanks for your continued support and patience in these challenging times.

The UK Government has extended the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) deadline from 28th February 2020 to 19th March 2020 (the day before the scheme was announced).

Although many weekly paid employees are set to benefit it will bring very little relief to those who are monthly paid. The problem being that qualifying employees would need to have been started on or before 19th March 2020 and have had their details submitted to HMRC via the Real Time Information (RTI) system. In truth most monthly paid employees receive their salaries much later in the month, which would mean that they will not be on HMRC's records in time to qualify for the CJRS.

We have now compiled much of the data required to make claims for employers with furloughed employees.  However, we will need details of your client bank account including Bank Name, Sorting Code, and Account Number.

It is vitally important that the concept of furloughing employees is fully understood in order to prevent fraudulent claims. The scheme was set up to save jobs by enabling employers to continue paying employees when laid off. In normal circumstances employees would be made redundant if there was not enough work to continue employing them. The Job Retention Scheme is an alternative to redundancy and is aimed at keeping employees on the payroll in the hope that when things return to normal everyone can go back to work. This is not to say that there may not be some redundancies in the future.

The most important factor to ensure that your claim is valid is to ensure that your employee/s are not working. The only exception to this is somebody operating as a director; they can continue to undertake statutory duties like filing accounts and confirmation statements.

The Job Retention Scheme will pay for 80% of an employees normal salary up to £2500 per calendar month. The employee must have been on the payroll as at 28th February 2020. The scheme will also cover associated employers pension (up to the standard 3%) and National Insurance costs.

The basis period for regular employees is 80% of the February 2020 payment. For employees working irregular hours it is 80% of the same period last year, or the average paid over the last year, whichever is the higher.

You can continue to pay your employees their normal pay if you can afford to. This will not affect the 80% Job Retention Scheme claim.

The minimum claim is for three consecutive weeks and the maximum is three months (unless the scheme is extended). The scheme is currently running from 1st March to 31st May 2020.

We will give priority to our existing clients and process claims at a rate that covers our time. We do not want to make money from administrating claims but we do need to cover costs. If you are an existing client and wish to make a claim then please let us know via email on info@thejohndoylepartnership.com.

We are happy to assist new clients but will need to go through the client authorisation process and be in possession of signed terms of engagement before acting.

Further information from HMRC

HMRC have published further guidance on the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.

To find out more from HMRC click here.

Contact us to see how we can help and get a free quote for your payroll.

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A quick reminder that it is payroll year end so if you are using the HMRC Basic Payroll Tools for a small payroll you need to be downloading the latest version of Basic Payroll Tools, processing your final submissions and producing your staff P60 (end of year certificates).

If you are a hitting a brick wall running this process why not consider appointing us to finish the year for you? It could save you time and frustration. All you would need to do is email a backup of your payroll after running the final week and we'll do the rest. Please email if you would like to discuss this opportunity. 

Firstly a massive thank you to our clients for their continued support.

It seems that everyday I receive new information about how to claim some of the relief that the UK Government is making available. I will try to update this page regularly so that you can get some idea of the general direction of travel.

Two things came through this week which may well be useful and could save you time and effort.

The first of these is for businesses with a premises that is registered with Portsmouth City Council (PCC) for business rates. This link will provide qualifying businesses, those with small business rates relief, with the opportunity of making a claim for the £10k small business grant. If you need any of your references then please send an email and we will try to help. You will need your PCC non domestic rates bill showing the 13 digit reference number, and your business bank account details.

The second is a link to ACAS providing you with a template letter to cover the employment law aspect when you need to furlough your employees. I would recommend using this template to avoid any future misunderstandings.

Please feel free to email any questions that you may have and we will endeavour to find the answer for you.

We are sure you were as surprised and unprepared as we were when suddenly two weeks ago we were faced with the enormous challenges presented by the Covid-19 pandemic.

We realised pretty quickly that the UK Government would need to act sooner rather than later to prevent the spread of the virus, so we made plans and bought some laptops so that our entire business could operate effectively away from our office in Priory Crescent.  If you are a client of ours you've probably already been dealt with remotely from somebody's front room!

After what seems like two weeks of absolute bedlam we are beginning to adapt to our new surroundings and are able to continue with business pretty much as usual.  It's just another day in the office.  At the JDP we are blessed with an excellent self motivated team; and it is this team that is prioritising your e-mails and dealing with your individual questions (as well as running the VAT, day to day payroll, and the payroll year end).

We didn't expect the UK Government to flow so much of the access to the funding for loss of business and income through our small company.  We will be the central pivot for ensuring that every business and every employee currently adminstrated by the JDP receives the necessary funding to protect jobs, business and livelihoods.  This includes remedies for the employed through furlough and self-employed through the Government Income Support Scheme.  There are also grants available and deferment of VAT and Income tax payments on account.  There is a lot that can be done to cushion the blow.

It is our intention to keep our full team employed.  There is no doubt that there is enough work to keep a small army busy!  However we are heavily reliant upon good cashflow.  We need you to play your part to keep us going by ensuring that we are paid within the 30 day term period.  If you can do that then we can administrate your payroll and claim the furlough funds; we can claim the self-employment grant based on your last three year's of net profit; we can ensure that you get the best possible advice in respect of VAT, Income tax; Business Support Grants.

As we see it we are all in this together.

Stay safe and keep calm knowing that financial support is coming your way.

Andy, Kev, Prunella, Jess, Jasmine, Florence, Sandy and Will.