Furlough scheme portal to open on Monday

It has advised that it is working as quickly as possible to deliver the service that will allow businesses to make a claim for 80 percent of furloughed employees’ pay, up to a maximum cap of £2,500 per eligible employee.

HMRC has also stated that any businesses and agents that are authorised to act on behalf of clients for PAYE matters will have the ability to claim. Conversely, file-only agents and payroll bureaus will not be able to access the service for data protection reasons.

However, it still require the support of file only agents even though they will not be able to access the service themselves. These agents are being asked to help their clients, as it is highly likely that they will have access to information that their clients will need in order to make their claims.

HMRC added that claims will only be made online, not by phone, and businesses will need the following in relation to each furloughed employee:

• National Insurance number;
• Salary, National Insurance and pension contribution information to allow businesses to correctly calculate the amount that they can claim back.

Businesses will be contacted with advice on what they need to do, by HMRC, when the portal opens.