Businesses beg Sunak to extend furloughs
BUSINESS leaders are demanding Rishi Sunak extends the furlough scheme into the summer amid surging unemployment.
They have urged the Chancellor to continue with support measures in March’s Budget to help sectors battered by the lockdown.
Tej Parikh, of the Institute of Directors, said: “It is now crucial that the Job Retention Scheme and other Covid-19 economic support is extended beyond the spring to support employment as restrictions continue.”
And Matthew Percival, of the Confederation of British Industry, said the Chancellor must act now and extend furlough “at least to the end of June to avoid a cliff edge”.
The scheme, which has cost almost £50billion, was supposed to end last October but was extended until April. The plea for more help comes as Britain’s jobless total was at its highest for more than four years with more than 200,000 workers axed in the three months to November.
The unemployment rate reached five per cent for the first time since 2016, said the Office for National Statistics, with the second lockdown destroying jobs.
As the number of jobless rose to 1.72 million, the growth in vacancies halved as the second wave of the pandemic struck.
Economists warned that there would be further pain to come after the latest lockdown hammers the economy.
Mr Sunak said: “This crisis has gone on far longer than any of us hoped. We’re throwing everything we’ve got at supporting businesses, individuals and families.”