Details of employers continuing to claim furlough scheme to be published

Following an audit into the early phase of the CJRS (also known as the furlough scheme) by the National Audit Office (NAO), published in October, it recommended that the tax authorities publish details of the employers making furlough claims, to improve the scheme’s integrity and transparency in the eyes of employees too.

The NAO believes that by publishing the furlough claims of employers, it will enable workers to highlight potential fraudulent claims, particularly from those still being made to work.

Employees will also be able to check whether their employer has claimed CJRS support for their wages from February 2021 via their online Personal Tax Accounts.

What employer details will HMRC publish?

HMRC will be publishing the following details of employers claiming for furlough scheme for the period from 1st December 2020 until 30th April 2021, when the scheme now ends,

• The employer name
• An indication of the value of the claim within a banded range
• The company number for companies and LLPs

HMRC will consider appeals from employers not to publish their details if there are genuine concerns that their publication would lead to an increased risk of violence or personal intimidation to certain individuals including:

• Individual employers including the self-employed
• Directors, officers or employees of limited companies
• Partners, officers or employees of partnerships or LLPs
• Settlors, trustees or beneficiaries of trusts

It will be important for employers to make contact with HMRC before February in order ensure their details aren’t published and HMRC will require evidence to be provided. 

How to ask HMRC not to publish your claim details 

HMRC will not publish details of employers claiming through the scheme if they can show that publishing these would result in a serious risk of violence or intimidation to certain relevant individuals, or any individual living with them. If you are an employer and you think there is a serious risk of violence or intimidation, you can request HMRC does not publish your claim details. 

HMRC has advised that you must make this request and accountants and agents cannot make the request for you. 

HMRC has said it will not publish any details until a decision has been made and you have been informed. 

You only need to apply once as HMRC has advised that its decision will cover all claim periods starting on or after 1st December. 

You will need to provide your:   

•     Employer Government Gateway user ID and password 
•     Employer PAYE reference number 
•     Business name 
•    Contact details 
•    Evidence in support of your application 

More details may be found on the HMRC site here, under the ‘Employer claim information that HMRC will make public’ section. 

What if you no longer claim for the furlough scheme?

Any small business owner who claimed the furlough scheme between March and 30th November 2020 and does not plan on claiming again will not have their business details published online.

Only those making claims for periods between 1st December 2020 and 30th April 2021 will have details of their claims for these months published.

Date published 18 Dec 2020 | Last updated 15 Jan 2021