COVID-19 update: New Job Support Scheme announced by Chancellor

As more social distancing measures are put back in place across the country to help stem the rise of COVID-19 cases, and the current furlough scheme is due to end in October, the government has just announced a new Job Support Scheme sending a lifeline to businesses and employees.  

This latest scheme to help protect jobs and offer support to businesses was announced in the Chancellor’s Winter Economy Plan (24 September 2020).

Job Support Scheme

The new Job Support Scheme will start from 1 November 2020 and run for 6 months with the aim of helping protect jobs in businesses with lower demand over winter months.

The initiative will be available to businesses in the UK whether a company has utilised the furlough scheme or not.

The government will contribute to employees’ wages who are working less hours due to the drop-in demand for their services. While employers pay staff for the hours worked, both the employer and government will each pay a third of the equivalent salary for the hours not worked.

The government states: ‘In order to support only viable jobs, employees must be working at least 33% of their usual hours. The level of grant will be calculated based on employee’s usual salary, capped at £697.92 per month.’

Other measures announced as part of the Economy Plan include:

• Extension of the Self Employment Income Support Scheme
• 15% VAT cut for the hospitality and tourism sectors
• Help for businesses in repaying government-backed loans

Further updates will be announced by the government in due course. In the meantime, you can read more detail about the hospitality tax cuts, as well as flexibility of loan repayment and the extension of applications for the coronavirus loan scheme here.

Accounting outsourcing services

If your business is affected and you need support to navigate this current financial journey to ensure that you are benefitting from all the latest government schemes and meeting key deadlines, our team of accountants and tax advisers are on hand to help guide you through.

Get in touch and chat with us about your business accounting needs.

For further information on the full range of accountancy outsourcing services including payroll, bookkeeping, VAT returns and company secretarial, please contact our team of accountants.