Reference Salary for Job Support Scheme

Reference Salary for Job Support Scheme

This update is written and posted on Monday 26th October 2020 and will quickly become out of date once further details are known. We will endeavour to update it as soon as information becomes available.

Just as the furlough scheme imposed a cap on what could be claimed, the Job Support Scheme (JSS) also has a cap.

When calculating what the employer must pay for hours not worked and what can be claimed from the Government, the Reference Salary is used.

The Reference Salary for the JSS is:

For employees on a fixed salary, the greater of:

a) wages paid to the employee in the last pay period on or before 23 September 2020, or

b) wages paid to the employee in the last pay period on or before 19 March 2020.

For employees with variable pay, the greater of:

a) wages earned in the same calendar period in tax year 2019-20,

b) average wages paid in tax year 2019-20, or

c) average wages paid from 1 February 2020 to 23 September 2020.

The Reference Salary is capped at £3,125 per calendar month, which means that the maximum the Government will pay is £1,541.75 per month per employee.

If an employee is earning more than the Reference Salary, it is still possible to agree with them to move onto the Job Support Scheme. They would need to be paid for hours worked based on their actual salary, but the 5% pay from the employer for hours not worked and the 61.67% from the Government is based on the Reference Salary.