The pandemic is creating a constantly shifting tide of Government announcements. Staying on top of them all has almost become a full time job. Last week we gave you details of the Chancellors Job Support Scheme and this week we're already having to provide you with an update as revisions were bough in to address the imbalance in support for businesses that saw a reduction in demand versus those that have been forced to close.

Rishi Sunak this week announced revisions for is now called the Job Support Scheme Open with the two most noteworthy changes being:

• In the original format of the scheme, employees had to work for at least one-third of their regular hours with the pay for this met solely by the employer. This has been reduced to just one fifth or 20% of their original hours. There will be a review after three months as to whether the minimum hours threshold should be increased. 
• Secondly, under the original scheme rules, pay for the hours not worked were to have been split equally between the government and the employer to make pay up to two thirds. Under the revision, the employer will need to contribute just 5% of pay for the hours not worked, and the government will pay just under 62% of normal pay subject to a monthly cap of £1,541.75 on the government’s share. This means employees will continue to receive at least 73% of their normal wages, where they earn £3,125 a month or less.

Under the JSS Closed, employees will receive two thirds of their pay up to a maximum of £2083.33 for the period that their employer is forced to close because of Covid-10 restrictions. Employers can top this amount up if they so wish.

More in depth details are expected next week but in the meantime you can read the Government briefing documents downloadable from our Covid-19 Toolkit

If you have to put any employees on either schemes, we have immediately useable letter templates downloadable from the Covid-19 Toolkit on our website now.

And remember, HR Champions are available for any workplace support that employers need. Call us on 01452 331331 or e-mail This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.