Claiming Furlough if your deadline is missed

HMRC has confirmed the information required for companies that have missed the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme and still want to make claims until the scheme ends on 30 September 2021

Claims for furlough days in May 2021 must be made by 14 June 2021.

If you have missed the claim deadline, HMRC may accept late claims if you have all of the following: a reasonable excuse, taken reasonable care to try and claim on time, and claimed without delay as soon as you were able to.

HMRC has set out a list of reasonable excuses, including:

• your partner or another close relative died shortly before the claim deadline;
• you had an unexpected stay in hospital that prevented you from dealing with your claim;
• you had a serious or life-threatening illness, including Coronavirus related illnesses, which prevented you from making your claim (and no one else could claim for you);
• a period of self-isolation prevented you from making your claim (and no one else could make the claim for you);
• your computer or software failed just before or while you were preparing your online claim;
• service issues with HMRC online services prevented you from making your claim;
• a fire, flood or theft prevented you them from making your claim;
• postal delays that you could not have predicted prevented you from making your claim;
• delays related to a disability you have prevented you from making your claim; or
• an HMRC error prevented you from making your claim.

Any company that has missed the claim deadline and has a reasonable excuse should use the service as normal. You can submit a request from the page where you choose your claim month. This must be done as soon as you are ready to make your claim but only after the claim deadline has passed.

For periods starting on or after 1 May 2021, you can claim for employees who were employed on 2 March 2021, as long as a PAYE Real Time Information (RTI) submission has been made to HMRC between 20 March 2020 and 2 March 2021, notifying a payment of earnings for that employee. You do not need to have previously claimed for an employee before 2 March 2021 to claim for periods starting on or after 1 May 2021.

For periods ending on or before 30 June 2021 you can claim 80% of an employee’s usual salary for hours not worked, up to a maximum of £2,500 per month. From 1 July 2021, the level of grant will be reduced each month and employers will have  to contribute towards the cost of furloughed employees’ wages.

From 1 July, the government will contribute 70% of salary up to £2,187.50, and this will then reduce to 60% up to £1,875 until the scheme closes on 30 September 2021.