PM pledge to get millions ‘earning pay packets again’
BORIS Johnson yesterday vowed to free millions of employees from the Government’s furlough scheme and allow them to return to work.
The Prime Minister confirmed the multibillion-pound Treasury scheme is to be phased out.
He said workers would welcome the chance to return to their jobs after the process ends, having cost £8billion in its first month.
The furlough scheme saw taxpayers fund the wages of staff at firms suffering a downturn in trade due to the coronavirus lockdown.
Mr Johnson spoke out in response to warnings from Labour that many workers currently furloughed could face redundancy.
He said: “The furlough scheme has been one of the outstanding provisions that the Government has been able to put in.
“It has given huge numbers of people – more than six million people – in this country the security that they need.
“Obviously, we want to make sure that people continue to feel that security, but at the same time we also want to enable people safely and securely to go back to work and earn their pay packets, as they want to do.”
He was speaking at his first Prime Minister’s Questions session since returning to work after his hospital treatment for coronavirus. Chancellor Rishi Sunak is understood to be studying a series of options for phasing out the scheme, including cutting the subsidy for workers from 80 per cent to 60 per cent of their wages.
Further cuts could follow as the payments gradually taper off.
Another option under discussion is to allow some furloughed staff to work, but with a smaller subsidy from the taxpayer.
Official figures released earlier this week showed that 6.3 million people – around a quarter of the private sector workforce – have been put on furlough by their employers, at a cost to taxpayers of £8billion for the first month.
About 800,000 employers have applied for cash through the process.The furlough scheme is due to end on June 30 after already being extended for a month.
Meanwhile, the Treasury yesterday revealed that banks have approved more than 69,000 “bounce back” loans, totalling more than £2billion, within the first 24 hours of the new government support scheme.
Seven lenders – Barclays, Danske, HSBC, Lloyds, RBS, Santander and Virgin Money – received more than 130,000 applications on Monday. The loans are designed to help small firms get finance quickly, with a government-backed guarantee.
Mr Sunak said: “Small businesses will be the driving force of our recovery, creating jobs and securing economic growth.”