Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 6 July to Question 65099 on Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme: Directors, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of using the 2018-19 submissions for company directors on annual payroll schemes in the same was as for the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme; 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. These conditions include 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 weren’t notified to HMRC on or before 19 March. The 19 March cut-off date allows as many people as possible to be included, by going right up to the day before the announcement and balances the risk of fraud that existed as soon as the scheme became public.