Furlough HMRC Claim - How to make it

Submitting HMRC Furlough Claims:

At French Duncan we have already submitted over £2.5m of client furlough claims to HMRC, meaning that monies are already on the way into their bank accounts to ease any cash flow worries.

We could also help you submit yours.  If you'd like to discuss simply email Linda Kelly, our Head of Payroll, at L.Kelly@frenchduncan.co.uk.

This page was written Wednesday 15th April, updated 6pm Monday 20th April.

The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme was announced on 20 March 2020 by the government to support employers severely affected by the coronavirus in paying their staff provided they are ‘furloughed’ - a new concept in the UK world of work which essentially means a temporary paid leave of absence supported by the government through a grant claim.  

The HMRC portal went live on 20 April 2020 – exactly one month after the government’s initial announcement.

If you are considering furlough for your business, or you have already furloughed staff, please see our 10 Step Guide to furloughing staff (click here), our FREE Furlough Template documents (click here) and our Guide to Holidays and Furlough (click here) for further information. All resources can also be found on frenchduncan.co.uk/covid-19.

As the portal is now live, we have been asked by many employers what happens next in terms of making the claim.   As it is early days, many of the practicalities of making the claim are not yet clear and we will continue to keep you updated on developments.  

However, in the meantime, below is our initial guidance on how to make a claim.  

Preparing to make a claim

Before you log into the portal, it is advisable to have all of the information you will need to hand.   You may have received communications from the HMRC advising of the basic information you will be asked to submit as part of your claim, and below is a summary of this information.

We have also prepared the attached FREE template spreadsheet (click here) you can download to help you keep all this information in one place.

Details about the company, including:

• Your Government Gateway (GG) ID and password – if you don’t have one, you can apply for one online at the GOV.UK website
• Your employer PAYE reference number – please note, you will need to be registered online for PAYE and you can do this on the GOV.UK website if you are not already
• Your Self Assessment Unique Taxpayer Reference or Corporation Tax Unique Taxpayer Reference or Company Registration Number
• Your bank account number and sort code
• Your contact name and phone number.

2. Details on the employees you want to furlough, including:

• Employee names as recorded on payroll
• Employee National Insurance Numbers
• Employee PAYE/Employee Number – this is optional
• Employee claim period – this may be different for different employees depending on when you furloughed individual staff members
• Employee claim amount – this will clearly vary. To support you in calculating what you can claim,
  • there is a calculator at https://www.tax.service.gov.uk/job-retention-scheme-calculator/;
  • guidance on calculating this manually at https://www.gov.uk/guidance/work-out-80-of-your-employees-wages-to-claim-through-the-coronavirus-job-retention-scheme#calc
  • this is all new for payroll software companies and payroll providers, but they will be able to manipulate systems to make the necessary calculations.

Details about your claim, including:

• Total number of employees claimed for
• Total amount claimed (per the minimum length of furloughing of 3 consecutive weeks)
• The claim period (start and end date).

Please note,

• If you have fewer than 100 furloughed staff, you will need to manually input the above information for each staff member.
• If you have more than 100 furloughed staff, you will need to upload a file with this information.

How to claim

Below is a link to the portal where you will be required to sign in using your Government Gateway ID: 

https://www.access.service.gov.uk/login/signin/creds

So far, there have been a few capacity issues which was not unexpected given HMRC have pulled together the portal and the guidance on the operation of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme in the space of a month which we imagine has been no mean feat. 

After you have made your claim

You will receive a claim reference number once your claim is submitted.   You should receive your claim within 6 working days via BACS once the HMRC have checked your claim. 

The HMRC reserve the right to audit all claims made, and you should therefore keep records of the calculations and what you have claimed for a period of 6 years.  

Further Support

As always, we are here to support you through this and other coronavirus related issues:

• If you are a French Duncan payroll client, please let your payroll contact know if you are planning to furlough staff.
• If you are not a French Duncan payroll client, please keep an eye on our blog and updates and we will keep you as informed as we possibly can as further detail emerges on how to make your claim.

Contact us

As always, we would be happy to further support you with your queries around this or any other coronavirus related matters.  Please contact C.McEleney@frenchduncan.co.uk to arrange a free consultation.

It’s just our way of trying to help.

French Duncan.  The people for you.