Oct 2020
26
Get access to Job Support Scheme functionality in BrightPay early
We began work on Job Support Scheme (JSS) functionality in BrightPay soon after it was announced by the Government in September 2020.
The JSS guidance given in the September announcement was not comprehensive. It explicitly stated that full details would follow in October, and we knew we were going to have to wait until then before we could complete our development and provide an upgrade.
More details were finally announced on 22 October. But unfortunately, although this latest guidance does provide some further information, it is still missing crucial particulars (for example, the calculation method by which monthly caps should be prorated where an employee is on the JSS for only part of a pay period). And again, the latest guidance states in many places that more details will follow "by the end of October".
While we continue to wait, customers who need to process November payroll are getting in touch with us, as they require JSS support.
To aid these customers, we are making available an upgrade that can be downloaded and applied as need be. It contains our nearly complete JSS functionality, but is limited to entering JSS amounts manually instead of using automatic JSS Open/Closed calculations. This way, amounts can at least be recorded for now that will flow through to a JSS claim report in future. When the Government have provided the answers we need, we will complete our JSS functionality and release an upgrade to everyone.
To access our manual JSS functionality:
- Ensure BrightPay is not currently running on your PC.
- Download and run BrightPay-UK-20.5.11-Upgrade.exe
- Launch BrightPay. To confirm you are on the correct version, you can open an employer and go to the Help menu > About BrightPay. The version should be 20.5.11.
- To record JSS amounts manually, go to a November pay period and click Add under Additions/Deductions – there is an option for the Job Support Scheme at the bottom of the list.
