Job Retention Scheme – have you claimed too much or not enough?

HMRC have published further guidance about the Job Retention Scheme for businesses who may have claimed too much or not enough funding.

If you have claimed too much

If you have made an error in a claim that means you’ve received too much, you must pay this back to HMRC.

You can either:

  • tell HMRC as part of your next online claim
  • contact HMRC to pay the money back

If you’ve overclaimed a grant and have not repaid it, you must notify HMRC by the latest of either:

  • 90 days after the date you received the grant you were not entitled to
  • 90 days after the date you received the grant that you were no longer entitled to keep because your circumstances changed
  • 20 October 2020

If you do not do this, you may have to pay a penalty. Find more information about the penalty you could face here.

If you have not claimed enough

If you made an error in your claim that has resulted in receiving too little money, you will still need to make sure you pay your employees the correct amount. You should contact HMRC to amend your claim and as you are increasing the amount of your claim, they may need to conduct additional checks.

Before 31 July, you must:

  • make sure to include all eligible employees on claims that you still need to make for periods up to 30 June
  • make any updates you need to on claims you’ve already made

After 31 July, you will:

  • no longer be able to add an employee to any existing claims for periods up to 30 June, that should have been included on a claim submitted before that date
  • still be able to make amendments for any other errors that resulted in you not claiming enough

Find the full HMRC guidance here.