Rishi Sunak confirms the Furlough scheme payments will remain at 80% of people’s wages, with a review of the policy in January
The UK’s national furlough scheme will be extended until the end of March, the Chancellor of the Exchequer has announced.
The Job Retention scheme, in which employees are eligible to receive four-fifths of their current salary up to a maximum of £2,500 per month of hours not worked, was established in March of this year and had been originally scheduled to be ending last month.
But the scheme was extended when the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, announced last weekend that a new four-week lockdown would be put in place in England.
This comes after Boris Johnson has warned of deaths “on a grievous scale” without further action, such as the 2nd national lockdown, to stem the spread of coronavirus infections. As he opened a House of Commons debate on England’s new lockdown, the prime minister urged MPs to vote in favour of a second national shutdown later on Wednesday.
The chancellor said the second lockdown – which was the “only viable solution left to protect our NHS” – had necessitated a change in approach.
He told MPs: “And so given these changed public health restrictions and the economic trauma they would cause in job losses and business closures, I felt it best to extend the furlough scheme rather than transition at that precise moment to the new job support scheme.”
“Political opponents have chosen to attack the government for trying to keep the economy functioning and to make sure the support we provide encourages people to keep working.”
“And they will now no doubt criticise the government on the basis that we have had to change our approach. But to anyone in the real world that’s just the thing you have to do when the circumstances change.”
“We all hope for the best but make sure we plan for any eventuality.”
Mr Sunak said he would “leave it to the people” to decide whether the government’s actions were right.
“What I know is the support we’re providing will protect millions of jobs,” he added.
This comes after the UK’s National Health Service is getting ready to administer COVID-19 vaccines before Christmas if a jab is ready, NHS England’s chief executive has said. No vaccines for COVID-19 have yet to have been approved but there are two frontrunners in the late-stages of clinical trials in the UK
Labour’s shadow chancellor Anneliese Dodds said the chancellor was “always a step behind” and “keeps ignoring” businesses and workers “until the last possible moment after jobs have been lost and businesses have gone bust”.
She continued: “Now when the lockdown was announced, the prime minister said furlough would be extended for a month – five hours before that scheme was due to end.”
“Two days later, realising the self-employed had been forgotten, there was a last-minute change to the self-employed scheme. And now, further changes.”
“The chancellor’s fourth version of his winter economy plan in just six weeks. The chancellor can change his mind at the last minute, but businesses can’t.”
