Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to support company directors on annual payroll schemes who did not qualify for the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme as a result of the 19 March RTI deadline; and if he will make a statement.

For an employee to be eligible for the CJRS they must have been notified to HMRC on a real-time information (RTI) submission on or before 19 March. Those paid annually are eligible to claim, as long as they meet the relevant conditions including being notified to HMRC on an RTI submission on or before 19 March 2020, which relates to a payment of earnings in the 2019/2020 tax year. Anyone paid annually and notified on an RTI submission after that date will not be eligible for the scheme, which puts them in the same position as those who are paid more frequently and were not notified to HMRC on or before 19 March.

The Government has sought to prioritise help for the greatest number of people as quickly as possible. Given this, the CJRS has had to be set up to operate at significant scale and with limited manual intervention. Extending the cut-off date beyond 20 March would have significantly increased the risk of abuse because claims could not be verified against the risk of fraud using the data after this point, when?the scheme became public.

The Government is also supporting people on low incomes who need to rely on the welfare system through a significant package of temporary measures. These include a £20 per week increase to the Universal Credit standard allowance and Working Tax Credit basic element, and a nearly £1bn increase in support for renters through increases to the Local Housing Allowance rates for Universal Credit and Housing Benefit claimants.?These changes will benefit new and existing claimants.