On Halloween, the government announced new restrictions for England, a 4 week lockdown. The restrictions will apply from Thursday 5 November to Wednesday 2 December 2020.
The support that has been announced so far for business is as follows:
Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS)
The new Job Support Scheme which was to have started from 1 November has been deferred until 1 December.
CJRS which was due to have ended on 31 October will continue for one more month. CJRS will operate at the same level as it did in August 2020, ie. 80% grant for hours not worked up to a maximum of £2,500 a month. The employer will have to pay the employer’s national insurance and pension contributions.
Employees who were on the employer’s payroll at 30 October 2020 (the employee must have been paid and that pay must have been reported on a RTI return before midnight on 30 October) can be included in a CJRS claim for November (even if they have not been previously claimed for).
Employees can be fully or flexibly furloughed. The rules for flexible furlough will be as they have been from 1 July.
Note, employees can be furloughed from 1 November, but the scheme ends on 30 November, so before the end of the lockdown.
As before, each claim must be for a period of at least seven consecutive calendar days.
The claim process will be very similar to that which has applied so far under CJRS, the employer will have to report the hours the employee has not worked in a claim period, along with the usual hours for that employee.
Further details will be published shortly, but it is expected that the claim procedure will be same as it was under CJRS up to 31 October.
Business grants
Businesses required by law to close are eligible for a support grant from their local authority, based on the rateable value of their business premises. Grants are payable as follows:
| Rateable value of premises | Grant per two weeks |
| Up to £15,000 | £667 |
| £15,001 to £50,999 | £1,000 |
| £51,000 or more | £1,500 |
