Readers’ forum: Too generous?

My question concerns the government’s coronavirus job retention scheme as it relates to a single person company where the owner could not work during lockdown and therefore furloughed themself. As far as I can see from the summary of the job retention bonus (see ‘Covid-19’ Taxation 6 August 2020 page 4) as long as the company pays the director at least £520 a month in November and December 2020 and in January 2021 the company will be eligible for the £1 000 bonus. Given that ‘the director is the company’ and would hardly sack themself this seems too good to be true; however in my book this normally suggests that something is not true. That said I want to claim the bonus if the director is entitled to it.

Another thought that occurs to me is whether I should be concerned as...