New guidance has been published on claiming the Job Retention Bonus. The Job Retention Bonus provides for a £1,000 bonus payment to employers that bring back an employee that was furloughed under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, and continuously employs them for at least 3 months after the furlough scheme ends.

The £1,000 Government bonus will be payable for every employee retained under the stated terms. The bonus must be claimed between 15 February 2021 and 31 March 2021. No further claims will be accepted by HMRC after 31 March 2021. 

Employers will still be able to claim the Job Retention Bonus even if they are receiving support from the recently announced Job Support Scheme.

In order to make a claim the employer must have:

• made an eligible claim for the employee under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme
• kept the employee continuously employed from the end of the claim period of their last Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme claim for them, until 31 January 2021
• ensured their employee is not serving a contractual or statutory notice period on 31 January 2021 (this includes people serving notice of retirement)
• paid the employee an amount in each relevant tax month and enough to meet the Job Retention Bonus minimum income threshold. To meet the minimum income threshold the employer must have paid the employee a total of at least £1,560 (gross) between 6 November 2020 and 5 February 2021.

Employers may be able to claim for employees who have transferred to them under TUPE or due to a change of ownership.  To claim the bonus for these employees the employer must have furloughed and successfully claimed for them under the CJRS, as their new employer.

Employers will not be able to claim for employees who transferred after the CJRS closes on 31 October 2020. HMRC’s guidance is due to be updated by the end of January 2021 with details of how to access the online claim service.