Claim for wages through the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme
Claim for some of your employee’s wages if you have put them on furlough or flexible furlough because of coronavirus (COVID-19).
Claims for September must have been submitted on or before 14 October 2021. Any amendments for September 2021 must have been made on or before 28 October 2021.
To use the scheme, the steps you’ll need to take are:
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Claim for your employees’ wages.
If you’re an employee you cannot claim for yourself, instead you should check if your employer can use the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.
Use this service to:
- claim for your employees’ wages
- save and continue a claim (within 7 days of starting it)
- delete a claim (within 72 hours of submitting it)
What you’ll need
To make a claim, you will need:
- to be registered for PAYE online
- your UK, Channel Island or Isle of Man bank account number and sort code (only provide bank account details where a BACS payment can be accepted)
- the billing address on your bank account (this is the address on your bank statements)
- your employer PAYE scheme reference number
- the number of employees being furloughed
- each employee’s National Insurance number (you will need to search for their number using basic PAYE Tools if you do not have it, or follow the instructions when claiming if your employee has a temporary number or genuinely has never had one)
- each employee’s payroll or employee number (optional)
- the start date and end date of the claim
- the full amounts of employee wages you’re claiming for
- your phone number
- contact name
You also need to provide (where applicable) your:
- name (or the employer’s name if you’re an agent)
- Corporation Tax unique taxpayer reference
- Self Assessment unique taxpayer reference
- company registration number
If you’re claiming for employees that are flexibly furloughed, you’ll also need:
- the number of usual hours your employee would usually work in the claim period
- the number of hours your employee has or will work in the claim period
- you will also need to keep a record of the number of furloughed hours your employee has been furloughed in the claim period
It is important that you provide the data we need to process your claim. Payment of your grant may be at risk or delayed if you submit a claim that is incomplete or incorrect.
Using an agent to do PAYE online
If you use an agent who is authorised to do PAYE online for you, they will be able to claim on your behalf.
If you’re using an agent you must:
- get their agent ID (your agent can get this from their HMRC online service for agents account under ‘authorise client’)
- be enrolled for PAYE online for employers
- give them your UK bank account details (only provide bank account details where a BACs payment can be accepted)
If you would like to use an agent, but do not have one authorised to do PAYE online for you, you can do that by accessing your HMRC online services and selecting ‘Manage Account’.
You can also use this service to remove authorisation from your agent if you do not want it to continue after they have submitted your claims.
If you’re putting 16 or more employees on furlough
You can download a template if you’re claiming for 16 or more employees.
You must upload the template in .xlsx or .csv format when you claim. If you have already saved the claim forms in a different format (such as .xls or .ods), you must save them again as .xlsx or .csv files. The other formats are no longer accepted.
Using these templates will help make sure your claim is processed quickly and successfully. Your template may be rejected if you do not give the information in the right format.
Return to your claim
You can still return to your claim to:
- view a previous claim
- delete a claim (you must do this within 72 hours of starting the claim)
You’ll need the Government Gateway user ID and password you got when you registered for PAYE online.
If you have missed the claim deadline
For claim periods from 1 November 2020, HMRC may accept late claims or amendments in certain circumstances.
After you’ve claimed
Once you’ve claimed, you’ll get a claim reference number. HMRC will then check that your claim is correct and pay the claim amount by BACs into your bank account within 6 working days.
You must:
- keep a copy of all records for 6 years, including:
- the amount claimed and claim period for each employee
- the claim reference number for your records
- your calculations in case HMRC need more information about your claim
- for employees you flexibly furloughed, usual hours worked including any calculations that were required
- for employees you flexibly furloughed, actual hours worked
- tell your employees that you have made a claim and that they do not need to take any more action
- pay your employee their wages, if you have not already
You must pay the full amount you are claiming for your employee’s wages to your employee. You must also pay the associated employee tax and National Insurance contributions to HMRC, even if your company is in administration. If you’re not able to do that, you’ll need to repay the money back to HMRC.
You must also pay to HMRC the employer National Insurance contributions on the full amount that you pay the employee. If you have submitted a claim for the employer National Insurance contributions and pension contributions, then the full amount you claim in respect of these must be paid or you will need to repay the money back to HMRC.
Employers cannot enter into any transaction with the worker which reduces the wages below the amount claimed. This includes any administration charge, fees or other costs in connection with the employment. Where an employee had authorised their employer to make deductions from their salary, these deductions can continue while the employee is furloughed provided that these deductions are not administration charges, fees or other costs in connection with the employment.
When the government ends the scheme
When the scheme closes, you must decide to either:
- bring your employees back to work on their agreed terms and conditions
- terminate their employment (normal redundancy rules apply to furloughed employees)
- agree with employees any changes to terms and conditions of employment (rules for contractual changes apply to furloughed employees)
When employers are making decisions about how and when to end furlough arrangements, equality and discrimination laws will apply in the usual way.
Tax Treatment of the Coronavirus Job Retention Grant
Payments you’ve received under the scheme are to offset the deductible revenue costs of your employees. You must include them as income when you calculate your taxable profits for Income Tax and Corporation Tax purposes.
Businesses can deduct employment costs as normal when calculating taxable profits for Income Tax and Corporation Tax purposes.
Individuals with employees that are not employed as part of a business (such as nannies or other domestic staff) are not taxable on grants received under the scheme. Domestic staff are subject to Income Tax and National Insurance contributions on their wages as normal.
How to report grant payments in Real Time Information
Find out how to report Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme grant payments on Real Time Information submissions.
How to pay the grant back
Find out how to pay all or some of your grant back if you:
- have overclaimed
- do not need the grant
- want to make a voluntary payment
Contacting HMRC
Use HMRC’s digital assistant to find more information about the COVID-19 support schemes.
You can also contact HMRC if you cannot get the help you need online.
We are receiving a very high numbers of calls, so do not contact us unnecessarily. This will help us manage our essential public services during these challenging times.
There is no right of appeal if you are ineligible for the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.
You should contact us if you think you do not meet the eligibility criteria due to:
- an HMRC error
- unreasonable delays caused by HMRC
You can use our complaints service if you are not satisfied with the way we have handled your claim.
Other help and support
You can watch videos and register for free webinars to learn more about the support available to help you deal with the economic impacts of COVID-19.
You can read previous versions of this guidance on The National Archives.
Updates to this page
Last updated 29 October 2021 + show all updates
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Updated information because the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme ended on 30 September. Updated 'Return to your claim' and 'If you have missed the claim deadline' section. Removed 'If you have not claimed enough' section.
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Removed 'How to claim' section as last claim date has passed. Updated 'If you've missed the claim deadline' section. Added 'Return to service' and 'How to pay the grant back' section.
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Information updated because the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme ended on 30 September 2021.
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Info updated in section 'When the government ends the scheme'.
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For claims relating to August and September 2021, the government will pay 60% of wages up to a maximum cap of £1,875 for the hours the employee is on furlough. Claims for furlough days in August 2021 must be made by 14 September 2021.
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Updated with Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme end date and information on when claims for September must be submitted. Bullet on 'National Insurance Number' in 'What you'll need' section updated.
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From 1 August 2021, the government will pay 60% of wages for furlough employees up to £1,875. From 1 July 2021, employers will top up employees’ wages to make sure they receive 80% of wages (up to £2,500).
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Information updated on what to do if you're putting 16 or more employees on furlough.
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Information about changes from 1 July 2021 has been added and claims for furlough days in June 2021 must be made by 14 July 2021.
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Further guidance added on what to do if you’ve missed the claim deadline.
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Section added called 'If you're putting lots of employees on furlough'. New link added to download a template for claiming for 16 to 99 employees.
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Claims for furlough days in May 2021 must be made by 14 June 2021.
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Claims for furlough days in April 2021 must be made by 14 May 2021.
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Claims for furlough days in March 2021 must be made by 14 April 2021.
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Guidance has been updated to explain that earliest you can make a claim for May 2021 is 19 April 2021.
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The scheme has been extended until 30 September 2021. From 1 July 2021, the level of grant will be reduced each month and employers will be asked to contribute towards the cost of furloughed employees’ wages. Dates added for claim deadlines and claim amendment deadlines for May to September 2021.
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Claims for furlough days in February 2021 must be made by 15 March 2021.
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Welsh translation added.
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Information that there is no right of appeal if you are ineligible for the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme has been added.
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Added translation
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Added Welsh translation.
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Updated to reflect that the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme has been extended to 30 April 2021. Claim and amendment tables now include April 2021.
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Updated section on "If you have missed the claim deadline". Employers must contact HMRC to ask about submitting a late claim.
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The guidance has been updated to reflect that the 30 November claims deadline has now passed.
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The information has been updated to include more detail about what HMRC may deem to be a reasonable excuse for missing a claim deadline. The information has also been amended to make clear that if a claim deadline falls on the weekend or a bank holiday then claims should be submitted on the next working day.
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Information relating to claim period deadlines and timings has been clarified.
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The scheme has been extended. This guidance has been updated with details of how to claim for periods after 1 November 2020. 30 November 2020 is the last day employers can submit or change claims for periods ending on or before 31 October 2020.
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Added translation.
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Information call out updated to state that the scheme is being extended until 31 March 2021.
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Information call out has been updated to confirm that the guidance on this page reflects the rules for the period until 31 October 2020. This page will be updated to include the rules relating to the scheme extension shortly.
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The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme is being extended until December 2020.
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Information call out has been updated - the scheme is now closed. 30 November 2020 is the last date you can submit claims.
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Added translation
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The information call out at the top of the page has been updated with the changes to the scheme. 30 November 2020 is the last day employers can submit or change claims for periods ending on or before 30 October 2020. Section 'If you have not claimed enough' updated - employers must contact HMRC on or before 30 November to add to a claim.
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Moved the section called 'If you have not claimed enough' into this guidance from the page 'If you've claimed too much or not enough from the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme', which has now been unpublished.
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If you're using a template to tell us about putting more than 100 employees on furlough, you now have to tell us if your employee has come back from statutory leave and you then put them on furlough.
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The information call out at the top of the page has been updated with the changes to the scheme from 1 September.
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'What you'll need section' updated to tell employers using the template for 100 or more employees that it may be rejected if the information provided is not given in the right format.
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Page updated to say that employers should only contact HMRC to provide National Insurance Numbers if the employee has a temporary number or genuinely has never had one.
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Page updated with the removal of information about overclaims and underclaims, this has been moved to a new guide that explains what to do if you claim too much or not enough. Addition of a link to the new guide under the heading 'If you've claimed the wrong amount'.
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Information added about the process HMRC is developing to recover overclaimed grant amounts through the tax system.
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Page updated to tell employers they can use the online service to delete a claim within 72 hours of submitting it.
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The page has been updated with information about what to do if you have claimed too much and do not plan to make another claim.
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Added a link in the 'If you make an error when claiming' section to a new page called 'Pay Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme grants back' which tells you how to pay back the grant to HMRC if you've overclaimed through the scheme.
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A Welsh translation of this page has been added.'
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If you're claiming for an employee with a temporary National Insurance number, you should contact HMRC.
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Page updated to tell employers to use a new template when claiming for more than 100 employees.
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Page updated with information about how the scheme is changing.
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Information in box at the top of the page updated with how the scheme is changing.
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Page updated with information about how the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme is changing.
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Page updated to explain that employers will be asked to give the amounts separately for the NICs, pension and wages they are claiming for. Information added that employee authorised salary deductions can be made from grant payments.
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Added in that records must be kept for at least 6 years. Clarification around where employers can search for employee's National Insurance Numbers. Added wording to the 'After you've claimed' section which was removed from the 'Work out 80% of your employees' wages to claim through the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme'.
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The service has now been updated and you can save a claim and finish it later.
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Page updated with information on what to do if one or more of your employees does not have a National Insurance number.
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Page updated with information about how to claim for 100 or more furloughed employees and the type of bank account details you must use.
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'Using an agent to do PAYE online' section has been updated.
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First published.