Chancellor Rishi Sunak has announced a further amendment to the Job Support Scheme, which is due to begin on 1 November 2020.

When originally announced, the JSS required employees to work a minimum of 33% of their normal hours. This has now been reduced to 20%, meaning that employees working as little as one day a week are now eligible for the scheme.

In addition, the employer contribution to the ‘unworked’ hours has been significantly reduced from 33% to just 5% to reduce the financial pressure on employers. This could have a huge impact on businesses and enable more employees to be kept in work.

The government will provide up to 61.67% of wages for hours not worked, up to £1541.75 per month (more than doubling the maximum payment of £697.92 under the previous rules). The cap is set above median earnings for employees in August at a reference salary of £3,125 per month

Example: a typical full-time employee in the hospitality industry is paid an average of £1,100 per month. Under the Jobs Support Scheme for open businesses, they will still take home at least £807 a month. All the employer needs to pay is a total of £283 a month or just £70 a week; the government will pay the rest.

Employers will continue to receive the £1,000 Job Retention Bonus.

No changes have been made to the JSS for those businesses legally required to close.

For more information see the Job Support Scheme Open Factsheet