• Only go outside for food, health reasons or work (but only if you cannot work from home)
• If you go out, stay 2 metres (6ft) away from other people at all times
• Wash your hands as soon as you get home

Do not meet others, even friends or family.

You can spread the virus even if you don’t have symptoms.

• eligibility cut-off date for Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme extended to 19 March 2020
• the change will mean thousands more workers can be furloughed
• scheme expected to be fully operational next week

Under the scheme announced by Chancellor Rishi Sunak last month, employers can claim a grant covering 80% of the wages for a furloughed employee, subject to a cap of £2,500 a month.

To qualify and to protect against fraudulent claims, individuals originally had to be employed on February 28 2020.

But following a review of the delivery system and to ensure the scheme helps as many people as possible, new guidance published today has confirmed the eligibility date has been extended to March 19 2020– the day before the scheme was announced.

Employers can claim for furloughed employees that were employed and on their PAYE payroll on or before 19 March 2020. This means that the employee must have been notified to HMRC through an RTI submission notifying payment in respect of that employee on or before 19 March 2020.

This change makes the scheme more generous while keeping the substantial fraud risks under control and is expected to benefit over 200,000 employees.

HMRC have been working at pace to delivering the scheme, which is due to be fully operational next week.

The CJRS is part of an unprecedented package of measures announced by the Chancellor to protect individuals and businesses.

This includes significant support for the self employed and immediate steps to give businesses access to cash to pay its rent, salaries or suppliers.

If any employer now thinks they are eligible for support, they can find out more here.

• Only go outside for food, health reasons or work (but only if you cannot work from home)
• If you go out, stay 2 metres (6ft) away from other people at all times
• Wash your hands as soon as you get home

Do not meet others, even friends or family.

You can spread the virus even if you don’t have symptoms.

In the light of the COVID-19 pandemic, the undersigned chairs and members of the Group of Friends on the Safety/Protection of Journalists are calling on all states to protect journalists’ and media workers’ safety, safeguard a free and independent media and ensure unhindered access to information, both online and offline.

Free, independent and pluralistic media play an indispensable role in informing the public during the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. Everyone has the right to comprehensible, accessible, timely and reliable information concerning the nature and level of the threat COVID-19 poses to their health, allowing them to follow evidence-based guidance on how to stay safe.

Public health needs public trust. Trust is crucial to achieving adequate support for and compliance by the general public with efforts by governments to help curb the spread of the virus.

Trust cannot be achieved without transparency and accountability provided and guaranteed by a free media. Conversely, free and independent media has an important role in pushing back against disinformation by providing access to accurate, fact-based and verified information. In this context, it is essential that governments and private entities address disinformation, foremost, by providing reliable information themselves.

We see with great concern an increase in restricting measures taken by States that disproportionately limit the right to freedom of expression and impede journalists and media workers from reporting on the COVID-19 crisis. Arrests, persecution and harassment against journalists and media workers, especially women, as well as smear campaigns to discredit their work and the expulsion of foreign journalists due to their COVID-19 coverage or the criminalisation of alleged misinformation, online and offline, may constitute human rights violations. There should be no place for impunity in democratic societies.

Internet access is essential to ensuring that information reaches those affected by the virus. Governments should end any internet shutdowns, ensure the broadest possible access to internet services, and take steps to bridge digital divides, including the gender gap.

Furthermore, journalists and media workers are subjected to significant physical and psychological risk by being at the frontline reporting on the COVID-19 crisis. They are working under extremely challenging conditions, partly because of lack of sanitary precautions and training, but also because of psychological stress linked to the rapidly evolving situation. Declarations of state of emergency due to the COVID-19 pandemic should not be used as a basis to limit freedom of expression and constrain the working environment of journalists and media workers. It is crucial for societies and the international community as a whole that governments preserve a free, safe and enabling environment for journalists and media workers and ensure that they can report on COVID-19 and inform about responses and consequences without undue interference.

We welcome a range of initiatives aimed at supporting journalists’ and media workers’ safety in the light of COVID-19 undertaken by international organisations, such as UNESCO and civil society, media associations as well as social media companies. Projects to strengthen media in developing countries in responding to the COVID-19 crisis, such as those undertaken by the UNESCO International Programme for the Development of Communication, are particularly welcome.

We also welcome the joint statement of 19 March published by David Kaye, UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression; Harlem Désir, OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media; and Edison Lanza, Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights as well as the press release and statements made by Moez Chakchouk, UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Communication and Information, published on 27 March.

We agree with their call that governments must be making exceptional efforts to protect the work of journalists at a moment of public health emergency and we remain fully committed to protecting media freedom and safety of journalists at this critical time.

Signed by Austria, France, Greece, Lithuania and Sweden as the chairs and co-chairs, respectively, of the Groups of Friends on the Safety of Journalists in New York, Geneva, Vienna (OSCE) and Paris.

Annex

List of co-signatories, members in any of the four Groups of Friends on the Safety of Journalists at UNESCO in Paris, the United Nations in New York and Geneva and the OSCE in Vienna, in alphabetical order:

Albania, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Cape Verde, Chile, Costa Rica, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Japan, Kenya, Kuwait, Latvia, Lebanon, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Montenegro, Morocco, The Netherlands, Nigeria, Norway, Paraguay, Poland, Qatar, Republic of Korea, Senegal, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, Tunisia, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay

The Directions set out that HMRC are responsible for the payment and management of amounts to be paid under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS).

The Directions set out the legal framework for the Scheme.

Further guidance for employers and employees about the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.

On 15 April 2020, the Chancellor made a Treasury Direction under Section 71 and 76 of the Coronavirus Act.

On 22 May 2020 the Chancellor made a further Treasury Direction under Sections 71 and 76 of the Coronavirus Act 2020, reflecting the extension to the Scheme to 30 June 2020 announced by the Chancellor on 17 April and clarifying some provisions within the original Direction.

On 25 June 2020, the Chancellor made a further Treasury Direction under Sections 71 and 76 of the Coronavirus Act 2020, reflecting the extension to the Scheme to 31 October 2020, and the changes to the terms of the scheme from 1 July 2020 onwards, announced by the Chancellor on 12 May 2020.

On 2 October 2020, the Chancellor made a Treasury Direction under Section 71 and 76 of the Coronavirus Act to set out the legal framework for the Job Retention Bonus. The Direction sets out that HMRC are responsible for the payment and management of amounts to be paid under the Coronavirus Job Retention Bonus, as set out in the Schedule to the Direction.

On 13 November 2020, the Chancellor made a Treasury Direction under Section 71 and 76 of the Coronavirus Act to extend and modify the effect of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme. The schedule to this direction sets out the scheme applying for the period beginning on 1 November 2020, and ending on 31 January 2021. This schedule also withdraws the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (Job Retention) Bonus established by part 2 of the Schedule to the direction made on 1 October 2020 by the Treasury in exercise of the powers conferred by sections 71 and 76 of the Coronavirus Act 2020 because the purpose of the Job Retention Bonus has been superseded by the provision made by part 1 of this schedule.

On 25 January 2021, the Chancellor made a Treasury Direction under Section 71 and 76 of the Coronavirus Act to extend the effect of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme. The schedule to this direction sets out the scheme applying for the period beginning on 1 February 2021, and ending on 30 April 2021.Due to the overlap with the CJRS that was introduced in March 2020, this Direction modifies the rules to calculate the reference salary and usual hours.

On 15 April 2021, the Lords Commissioners made a Treasury Direction under Section 76 of the Coronavirus Act to extend and modify the effect of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme. The schedule to this direction sets out the scheme applying for the period beginning on 1 May 2021, and ending on 30 September 2021, providing for tapering of the support in July, August and September 2021, and extends the RTI cut-off date to 2 March 2021.