Sunak offers furlough bonus, dine-out discounts to save UK jobs

UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak on

We d nesday an nounced a 'minibudget' tha t inc ludes ab onus scheme f or emplo yers w ho bring furloughed or f orced leave staf f back to w ork as par t of a major drive to save jobs hit b y the c oronavir us pandemic shutdown.

As par t of his Summ er Economic Update in P arliament, dub bed a mini-Budget, the I ndian-origin finance minister also unveiled a new 2 billion pound K ickstart Sc heme t o create "hundr eds of thousand s" of new, fully subsidised jobs f or young people across the UK, with the overall package of measures estimated at around 30 billion pounds.

"Our plan has a clear goal: to protect, support and create jobs. It will give b usinesses the confidenc e to retain an d hir e; to cr eate jobs in every par t of our c ountry; to gi ve young people a bet ter star t; to give people everywhere the opportunity of a fresh start," said Sunak.

"Throughout thi s cr isis, I ha ve never b een th e prisoner of ideology. For me, this has never just been a question of economics, but of values. We bel ieve in the nob ility of work. W e b elieve in the inspiri ng power of opportunity. We believe in the British peop le's f ortitude and endurance," he said.

As the UK enters w hat i t c ategorises as the second phase in its COVID-19 r ecovery with the loc kdown m easures being eased up , Sunak's ne w so-calle d "plan f or jobs" is designed to support jobs by focussing on skills; create jobs with investment in "sho vel-ready" pr ojects; and pr otect jobs thr ough a VAT cut for the hospitality sector.