It is assumed that you have already been to the Govt. Website explaining the Scheme:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/claim-for-wage-costs-through-the-coronavirus-job-retention-scheme

There is new “Job Retention Scheme” Module available free for Sage Payroll Systems.    If you cannot access it from the link on opening the Payroll, go to the Sage Website> Support > Download and download it to your computer to install it.

Calculating the Claim.

Before making the claim ensure that you have all the information noted in the HMRC website

You can either use the Payroll Module to calculate the claim or use the Calculator on the HMRC website.  Be warned, if you have a Weekly Payroll, or need to calculate part of a month, the HMRC calculator needs Saturday and Sunday to be included.

Be warned that you must have all the info before you start, the system will throw you out after 30 minutes, so you don’t have time to leave it to ferret out information.

The claim is made for the whole Company for each of the three costs, (i.e. Gross Pay, Employer’s NI and Employer’s Pension Contributions) you will not have to claim for each individual employee.

Making Changes to the Accounts and Payroll.

1. In Accounts set up a new Nominal Account, in the Overheads, close to your Wages costs, for “Furlough Pay”. Set up another, adjacent to that, for “Furlough Pay Grant”; you should be aware that this is treated as “taxable income” in your Corporation Tax/Income Tax Computations, so your Tax Accountant will need to identify it.  These should offset one another, but there may be timing differences.
2. In Payroll set up a new Pay Element for “Furlough Pay”. Untick the two boxes“Value” and “Hours” for Minimum Living Wage;  leave all the other boxes ticked if they apply in your Company’s case.
3. In Payroll> Nominal Settings set Furlough Pay to post to the new Nominal Code set up in para 1 above.

Points to Note

• You should also be aware, when making the claim, that, if you get the Small Employer’s Relief of up to £4,000 this year, you may not be paying any Employer’s NI for a while.
• When Payroll posts the Employer’s NI Contribution to the Nominal Ledger, there will be one figure. I suggest you calculate the amount relating a manual journal for these costs (for only the Furloughed Staff) to the same account.