Furlough claims from 1 November 2020

If you are making claims under the extended furlough scheme from 1 November 2020 you need to be aware of changes in the claims process.

Perhaps the most significant is that claims need to be registered within 14 days of the relevant period end. In their revised guidance on this topic HMRC say:

You can claim before, during or after you process your payroll as long as your claim is submitted by the relevant claim deadline. You cannot submit your claim more than 14 days before your claim period end date.

When making your claim:

• you do not have to wait until the end date of the claim period for a previous claim before making your next claim
• you can make your claim more than 14 days in advance of the pay date (for example, if you pay your employee in arrears)

If you do not finish your claim in one session, you can save a draft. You must complete your claim within seven days of starting it. All claims for periods from 1 July 2020 to 31 October 2020 must be submitted no later than 30 November 2020.

Claims from 1 November 2020 must be submitted by 11.59pm 14 calendar days after the month you’re claiming for. If this time falls on the weekend or a bank holiday then claims should be submitted on the next working day.

But what happens if you cannot submit a claim by the deadline?

HMRC accept that there may be circumstances when a claim cannot be made within the statutory time limits. They confirm that you may have a reasonable excuse if:

• 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
• a HMRC error prevented you from making your claim

HMRC will not consider reasonable excuses in advance of a claim deadline.