In his Summer economic update, the Chancellor has announced a Job Retention Bonus scheme aimed to ensure employers bring back furloughed staff and keep them in employment for the next six months.

The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) is being wound down and will end on 31 October 2020. 

To reward and incentivise employers to bring furloughed staff back to work and ensure those workers remain in employment and are not permanently laid off, the government will:

  • Pay employers a Job Retention Bonus of £1,000 per furloughed employee who is both brought back to work once the CJRS ends and is continuously employed by them until 31 January 2021.
  • To be eligible workers must be paid at least £520 per month on average between 1 November 2020 and 31 January 2021.
  • The employer must have made claims for the employee under the CJRS.
  • The employee must not be under notice of termination on 31 January 2021 and the employee RTI records must be up to date.
  • Payments will be made to employers in February 2021 once Real-Time Information (RTI) data to 31 January 2021 has been received by HMRC.

The government has promised more details on how this will work by the end of July 2020.

Useful guides

Summer Economic Update: At glance
Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak, made his update on Wednesday 8 July 2020. We outline his new measures designed to assist in reviving jobs and the economy following the outbreak of the Coronavirus.

COVID-19: Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme
Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme: a cash grant that is designed to allow employers to retain staff who would otherwise be laid off.

COVID-19: Government support tracker
This tracker covers measures announced by the government to support individuals and businesses, as we get through COVID-19.

COVID-19: Self Employed Income Support Scheme
The deadline for claiming under the first round is 13 July 2020. Claims for the second round of grants at the lower rate may be made in August with a deadline of 19 October 2020.

External link

A Plan for Jobs 2020: Policy paper