CJRS & BrightPay - Notes of Importance

Please Note: The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme ended on 30 September 2021. Claims for September must be submitted on or before 14 October 2021. Any amendments must be made on or before 28 October 2021.

BrightPay provides two independent tools to assist users who have furloughed employees under HMRC's Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS):

• a Furlough Pay Calculator to help users ascertain an employee's furlough pay each pay period
  
  
• a Claim Report to assist users in completing their grant claim through HMRC's online claim portal

The following are notes of importance with regard to the operation of these. 

Claim Report - Pay periods which straddle claim periods

For a pay period covered by multiple claim periods, we apportion the pay period's gross pay into each claim period on a daily basis, where each day has a relative weighting in line with the maximum daily wage amounts as stipulated by HMRC. This is the only method that guarantees accuracy in all scenarios.

Please click here for a working example.

Rounding

In some instances, users may see a few pence difference if comparing HMRC's calculations with those calculated in BrightPay.

This is because the published HMRC calculations are based on rounded amounts for making manual calculation easier. BrightPay uses a more direct and accurate algorithmic version of the calculation instead (similar to those used in NIC calculations) which can result in the few pence difference.

Pay periods which cross 2 tax year versions of BrightPay

Where pay periods cross over 2 tax year versions of BrightPay, we would like to bring to your attention the following scenario where BrightPay will unfortunately be unable to produce a CJRS Claim Report and in turn automatically ascertain reclaimable amounts for you.

This is due to the nature of how BrightPay is programmed, in that 21-22 BrightPay will install as a separate program to 20-21 BrightPay.

Scenario: your pay period commences in March and has a pay date falling after 6th April 2021

Example

• Fortnightly pay period runs from 26th March – 8th April
  
  
• Employee’s Furlough Pay for the pay period = £800
  
  
• Pay Date - 8th April

The pay data for this pay period will be processed in 21-22 BrightPay.  As the pay period however crosses 2 calendar months, 2 claims are required to reclaim the furlough pay – a March claim to cover the dates falling in March and an April claim for the dates falling in April.

• The CJRS Claim Report in 21-22 BrightPay can be used in the normal manner for the April claim (in this example to claim for the 8 days falling in April)
  
  
• However, a March CJRS Claim Report for the dates 26th March - 31st March will not be possible to run in 20-21 BrightPay as the associated furlough pay resides in 21-22 BrightPay.

In this instance, users will thus be required to manually calculate the reclaimable March furlough pay element and process in the normal manner through HMRC's claim portal.