Guidance

Claim the Job Support Scheme

Claim for for some of the cost of your employee's wages for hours they've not worked due to coronavirus (COVID-19).

This guidance was withdrawn on

The Job Support Scheme, which was due to start on 1 November 2020, has been withdrawn.

You need to be an eligible employer to make a claim. If you’re an employee you cannot claim for yourself.

HMRC will publish the names of all the employers who have used the Job Support Scheme. HMRC may publish further information including addresses, Company Registration Numbers and an indication of the value of claims made.

Get ready to claim

Records you need to keep

You must keep a copy of your records for six years of:

  • 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, including the reference salary
  • for employees claimed for under Job Support Scheme Open, usual hours for each pay period, including any calculations that were required
  • for employees claimed for under Job Support Scheme Open, actual hours worked

You must also keep a record of any temporary working agreements for at least 5 years.

Paying employees before you claim

You cannot make a claim through the Job Support Scheme for any amounts that you have not already paid to your employees and reported to HMRC on a Real Time Information Full Payment Submission.

You do not need to make another Full Payment Submission once you have received your Job Support Scheme grant payment. This is because the grant is reimbursing the wages you have already paid out.

You should continue to pay employees on their contractual payment date. You must not delay payment of wages to your employees until you have received your grant payment. If you do delay payment of wages this will make you ineligible to claim.

If you choose to top up employee wages above the minimum requirement of the scheme, that is your choice and at your own expense.

What you’ll need

To claim for your employees’ wages you will need:

You will also need to give a contact name and either:

  • Corporation Tax unique taxpayer reference
  • Self-Assessment unique taxpayer reference
  • Company Registration Number

You can provide your employer name if you do not have these.

If you’re claiming for employees through the Job Support Scheme Open, you’ll also need the:

If you’re claiming for employees through the Job Support Scheme Closed, you’ll also need the:

  • number of premises that you are claiming for
  • full addresses of those premises and the type of activity undertaken there (if you are claiming for 5 or more premises you will be able to upload a file with this information)
  • for each employee claimed the postcode of the premises they normally work at that has been legally required to close

It is important that you give the data we need to process your claim. Your grant might not be paid or it could be delayed if you submit a claim that is incomplete or incorrect.

How to claim

You cannot make a claim yet. The online claim service will be available from 8 December 2020. You cannot submit a claim until then. The guidance will be updated in December.

You’ll need the Government Gateway user ID and password you got when you registered for PAYE online to access the service.

When you make your claim, you may be asked to confirm that you are experiencing reduced business activity due to coronavirus.

Uploading a template when you claim

You must tell us about your employees when you claim. We will update this guidance with a template you can use shortly which you can upload when you claim.

If you choose to upload your own template you will need to make sure it follows the same format, or payment of your claim may be delayed.

Using an agent to make your claim

You can use an agent to make a claim on your behalf. To do this you must:

  • give them authorisation to do PAYE online for you by accessing your HMRC online services and selecting ‘Manage Account’
  • 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, Channel Islands or Isle of Man bank account details (only provide bank account details where a BACs payment can be accepted)

After you’ve made a claim

HMRC will publish the names of all the employers who have used the Job Support Scheme. HMRC may publish further information including addresses, Company Registration Numbers and an indication of the value of claims made.

Your employees’ will be able to check if you have made a Job Support Scheme claim relating to them via their Personal Tax Account on GOV.UK.

Report fraud to HMRC

HMRC will check claims. Payments may be withheld or need to be paid back if a claim is found to be fraudulent or based on incorrect information. The amount of any overpayment must be paid back to HMRC where a claim contains incorrect information.

The full amount of any grant must be repaid if a claim is found to be fraudulent. Penalties of up to 100% of the amount overclaimed may be applied where appropriate.

You can report fraud to HMRC if your employer is abusing the scheme. This could include:

  • claiming on employees behalf and no paying them what they’re entitled to
  • asking employees to work whilst making a JSS Closed claim for them, or asking them to work in hours that are not on the temporary working agreement

Paying PAYE and National Insurance contributions

The Job Support Scheme does not include any grant payments for meeting the cost of employer National Insurance contributions or pension contributions.

You must continue to deduct income tax and employee National Insurance contributions from the full amount that you pay the employee, including any amounts that are later funded by scheme grants, and pay those amounts to HMRC by the normal due date each month. You must do this even if your company is in administration. If you’re not able to do that, you’ll need to pay the grant back to HMRC.

You must also pay HMRC the employer National Insurance contributions on the full amount that you pay the employee, including any scheme grant.

You must also still pay pension contributions in accordance with the applicable pension scheme terms, unless your employee has opted out or stopped saving into their pension.

Where payment on the Apprenticeship Levy applies to you, this must also be paid in full.

Tax treatment of Job Support Scheme grant payments

Payments you’ve received under the scheme are to offset the deductible salary 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 still subject to Income Tax and National Insurance contributions on their wages as normal.

If you’re claiming the Job Retention Bonus

You can still claim the Job Retention Bonus if the eligibility criteria are met.

Contacting HMRC

We are receiving very high numbers of calls. Contacting HMRC unnecessarily puts our essential public services at risk during these challenging times.

Get help online

Use HMRC’s digital assistant to find more information about the coronavirus support schemes. You can also contact HMRC if you cannot get the help you need online.

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 coronavirus.

Updates to this page

Published 30 October 2020

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