Last updated 6 October 2021

One of the new elements of the extended Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) was that HMRC published the names of employers who had made claims under the scheme together with an indication of the amount each employer claimed.

The published details were only in respect of claims relating to periods from 1 December 2020 onwards. So an employer who only made claims during March to September 2020 and who did not claim again, did not have their details published. An employer who started to claim in March 2020 and claimed until the scheme end of 30 September 2021, had details of their claims for the months of December 2020 to September 2021 published.

What was published?

HMRC published the following on a monthly basis:

• The employer name, together with a company registration number for companies and LLPs.
• An indication of the value of the claim.

Where there was more than one PAYE scheme for a company, HMRC aggregated the information and published it under one company registration number. 

The exact value of the claim was not published, instead HMRC indicated where the claim fell within a series of 14 bands. The first band covered claims worth between £1 and £10,000. 

The first list was published in January 2021 and only contained employer names. From 25 February 2021, the published information was extended to include an indication of the value of the claim. The published details did not include information about employees. 

Were there any exclusions?

HMRC did not publish details of any employers who considered that publication would create a serious risk of violence or intimidation to certain relevant individuals or anyone living with them. The relevant individuals could include:

• The employer themselves if they are an individual.
• Any company director or officer if the employer is a company.
• Any partner or member where the employer is a partnership or LLP.
• Any trustee, settlor or beneficiary where the employer is a trust.
• Any other employee.

An employer who thought this might apply to them was asked to tell HMRC why they might be put at risk and supply evidence. (The appliation could also be made on the employer's behalf by their agent provided they had enough information to support the application.) If the application was made before any details were published, then details were withheld until a decision was reached. If the application was rejected, HMRC allowed the employer a window of time to refund the claim before their details were published. If the information had already been published, it was removed when HMRC next updated the lists of employer details, usually in the following month. 

Why was this published?

Details of CJRS claims were published as part of HMRC’s commitment to transparency and to deter fraudulent claims.

The issue of reporting the details of claimants was discussed by the National Audit Office in their report into the CJRS published in October 2020, with the NAO stating that HMRC could have done more to make clear to employees that they were part of a furlough claim.

The NAO reported that, when the CJRS was first launched, HMRC had considered that publishing employer’s details risked deterring too many legitimate claims. However, if employees are not informed by their employer that a claim has been made, they would not be able to highlight any potential fraud if they were, in fact, still working. To tackle this, HMRC had proposed publishing employer’s claim details as part of the proposed Job Support Scheme (JSS), which was to have replaced the CJRS in November. These measures were subsequently introduced to the extended CJRS after the JSS was deferred.

What information was available to employees?

In addition to the naming of employers claiming under the scheme for periods from 1 December 2020 onwards, individual employees were able to check if their employer had made a CJRS claim in respect of them by checking their online Personal Tax Account (PTA).

This facility was accessible by employees from 25 February 2021, and they were able to see details of any claims involving them for periods starting on or after 1 December 2020.  The employee was able to see the name of any employer who had claimed in respect of them and for which months between December 2020 and September 2021. They were not able to see the amounts that had been claimed on their behalf. HMRC provided employees with guidance on what to do if they had any queries as a result of viewing this information.