The extension of the furlough scheme may be too late to save jobs, say leading tax and advisory firm, Blick Rothenberg.
Heather Self, tax partner at Blick Rothenberg, said: “ Employers are supposed to agree any changes to employees’ contracts in advance – how are they supposed to do that at 6 hours’ notice at a weekend?
“ While it is welcome news that additional support is being offered to businesses during the new lockdown restrictions, the change may well come too late to save jobs.”
She added: “ “The Chancellor repeatedly said that the furlough scheme would not be extended, but has now done a last-minute U turn and has postponed the job support scheme for at least a month. The extension is more generous, but the very short notice is a Hallowe’en nightmare for employers and jobs that could have been saved may now be lost.”
Heather said: “Businesses need to be able to plan ahead through the winter and into 2021. We urge the Chancellor to set out a plan to support businesses in the months ahead, rather than reacting on a week by week basis to changing circumstances.”
She added: “ Employees will receive 80% of their wages from the Government for any hours not worked, with their employer being responsible for national insurance and pension contributions – a cost of around 5% for an employee on average earnings. This is more generous than the JSS, which only offered a minimum of 67% for closed businesses and 73% for businesses where an employee worked at least 20% of their usual hours. It is also better than the last two months of the furlough scheme, where employers had to make an additional contribution of 10% or 20% of pay.”
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