Breaking: furlough scheme expected to open on 20 April

Representatives from HMRC have today told a Parliamentary Select Committee that the online portal being built to process the payments of furloughed staff will be open from Monday 20 April and HMRC will be ready to make payments by Thursday 30 April.

It also said that its aim is to process payments within 4-6 working days of receiving the claim.

HMRC expect that most employers will submit claims within the first couple of days. The system will be open 24/7 and will allow users to 'queue' where volumes are high. They’ve apparently, tested the portal and are 'confident' it will cope with the volumes. We can only hope they're correct.

It aims to publish new guidance to help organisations prepare their claim etc and we'll update you once that's available.

HMRC were giving evidence to the Parliamentary Treasury Committee meeting on Wednesday 8 April 2020 about the Coronavirus: Job Retention Scheme (colloquially known as the 'furlough scheme'). 

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