UK Government Covid-19 Job Retention Scheme goes live on Monday

THE job retention scheme which could see around nine million workers in the UK furloughed for up to four months goes live on Monday.

It will go live at 8am on Monday with full digital support.

The Chancellor announced the scheme March 20 to enable employees to remain on the payroll through being ‘furloughed’.

Employers simply need to claim the cash grant from HMRC and to support this an online application service which can handle up to 450,000 applications an hour has been put in place.

Employers should then receive the money to pay their employees within six days, enabling them to meet the April payroll.

HMRC emailed two million employers on Friday providing a link to a five-step guide to claiming and advising that they don’t need to call unless they have a problem. This is to keep the phone lines free for those who really need help.

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