The opening of the scheme, accessible to all UK businesses, is an important milestone for firms impacted by the spread of Covid-19.

In order to apply, employees must have been designated as ‘furloughed’ for a minimum of three weeks and have been on the company’s payroll on or before 19 March 2020.

Employers must be enrolled for PAYE. The scheme has been set up to run for at least 3 months starting from 1 March.

If an employee was made redundant or stopped working for their employer prior to 19 March 2020 but was employed as of 28 February 2020 and was on the payroll they can also qualify for the scheme if their employer has re-employed them and put them on furlough.

What do I need to make a claim?

To claim, the employer will need:

• Employer PAYE reference number

• the number of employees being furloughed

• National Insurance numbers for the furloughed employees

• Names of the furloughed employees

• Payroll/employee number for the furloughed employees (optional)

• Self-assessment unique taxpayer reference or corporation tax unique taxpayer reference or company registration number

• the claim period (start and end date)

• the amount claimed (per the minimum length of furloughing of 3 consecutive weeks)

• bank account number and sort code

• contact name and phone number

Employers will need to calculate the amount being claimed and HMRC will retain the right to retrospectively audit all aspects of any claim.