Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 17 June 2020 to Question 57401 on PAYE, how many limited companies that registered an annual PAYE scheme for the financial year 2018-19 made an RTI notification of payment to HMRC after 20 March 2019; and what assumption his Department made about the volume of such notifications in respect of the 2019-20 tax year when he set the rules for the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.

It is not possible to provide an answer in the time available.

The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, including the cut-off for RTI notifications, was designed in a way that mitigated the risk of fraud and could be delivered quickly in order to provide the support that employers and employees needed in April. Where individuals are not eligible to be furloughed the Government has put in place a significant package of temporary welfare measures including a £20 per week increase in the Universal Credit standard allowance and working tax credit basic element, and a nearly £1 billion increase in support for renters through increases to the Local Housing Allowance rates for Universal Credit and Housing Benefit Claimants.