Guidance

Make a late Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme claim

Find out if you can make a late claim if you’ve missed the deadline and how to do this. You can also check guidance for the scheme.

From:
HM Revenue & Customs
Published
29 October 2021
Last updated
18 August 2022 — See all updates

The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme ended on 30 September 2021. 14 October 2021 was the last date to make a claim for September.

For claim periods from 1 November 2020, HMRC may accept late claims or amendments if you have:

  1. Taken reasonable care to try and claim on time.

  2. A reasonable excuse.

  3. Claimed as soon as your reasonable excuse no longer applies.

As soon as you are ready to make a late claim or amendment, you need to:

  1. Check if you have a reasonable excuse.

  2. Make sure you have all the information you need to process your claim.

  3. Contact us using the helpline to check with an advisor if you can claim.

If your reasonable excuse is accepted, the advisor will process your claim over the phone.

Reasonable excuse examples

A reasonable excuse could include:

  • your partner or another close relative died shortly before the claim deadline
  • you had an unexpected stay in hospital that prevented you from dealing with your claim
  • you had a serious or life-threatening illness, including coronavirus (COVID-19) related illnesses, which prevented you from making your claim (and no one else could claim for you)
  • a period of self-isolation prevented you from making your claim (and no one else could make the claim for you)
  • your computer or software failed just before or while you were preparing your online claim
  • service issues with HMRC online services prevented you from making your claim
  • a fire, flood or theft prevented you them from making your claim
  • postal delays that you could not have predicted prevented you from making your claim
  • delays related to a disability you have prevented you from making your claim
  • an HMRC error prevented you from making your claim

If you made an error in your claim and did not receive enough money, you must still pay your employees the correct amount.

Check guidance for the scheme

You can read guidance to check:

  1. If you were eligible to claim.

  2. Which employees you could have put on furlough .

  3. Steps to take when calculating a claim.

  4. How to calculate a claim.

  5. Guidance for making a claim (when the scheme was open).

  6. How to report payments in PAYE Real Time Information.

You can also read previous versions of Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme on The National Archives.

Contacting HMRC

You can contact HMRC if you cannot get the help you need online.

There is no right of appeal if you are ineligible for the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme. You should contact us if you think you do not meet the eligibility criteria due to:

  • an HMRC error
  • unreasonable delays caused by HMRC

You can use our complaints service if you are not satisfied with the way we have handled your claim.

Published 29 October 2021
Last updated 18 August 2022 + show all updates

  1. Information and link to HMRC's digital assistant removed from the 'Contacting HMRC' section.

  2. Added translation

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