» Furlough scheme:
THE furlough scheme currently supporting 7.5 million jobs through the coronavirus crisis will be extended until the end of October, Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced as the UK death toll linked to Covid-19 passed 40,000.
The scheme, which pays 80% of a worker’s salary up to a £2,500 monthly cap, will remain unchanged until the end of July and then continue, with employers expected to start footing some of the multi-billionpound bill.
Mr Sunak told MPs yesterday that from August there will be greater flexibility in order to allow furloughed staff to begin returning to work.
“Employers currently using the scheme will be able to bring furloughed employees back part-time,” he said.
“And we will ask employers to start sharing with the Government the cost of paying people’s salaries.”
Under the scheme, which has already cost the taxpayer £10bn, staff will continue to receive the current level of support through a combination of state and employer contributions.
Details will be announced at the end of the month following consultations with business, but officials have acknowledged the state will continue to make the larger contribution.
Mr Sunak continued: “Until the end of July there will be no changes whatsoever.
“Then from August to October, the scheme will continue for all sectors and regions of the UK but with greater flexibility to support the transition back to work.
“Employers currently using the scheme will be able to bring furloughed employees back part-time.
“And we will ask employers to start sharing with the Government the cost of paying people’s salaries.
“Full details will follow by the end of May.”
Shadow Chancellor Anneliese Dodds said many were taken aback by comments attributed to Government officials suggesting people need to be “weaned off an addiction” to the furlough scheme.
She said she had only heard about the Chancellor’s changes “in the last few seconds” and will examine them “very, very carefully”.
Ms Dodds said people do not want to be furloughed, adding in the Commons: “It’s critically important they are not penalised for that choice. We welcome the flexibility mentioned, we’ve asked for this repeatedly.”
Mr Sunak replied: “The use of the word ‘addiction’ is not one I have ever used and not one I agree with.
“Nobody who is on the furlough scheme wants to be on this scheme. People up and down this country believe in the dignity of their work, going to work, providing for their families. It’s not their fault their business has been asked to close or asked to stay at home.
“That is why I established this scheme to support these people and their livelihoods at this critical time.”
TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady, responding to the Government’s extension of the furlough scheme, said: “We are pleased ministers have listened to unions and extended the job retention scheme to the autumn. This will be a big relief for millions.
“Changing the rules to allow parttime working is key to enabling a gradual and safe return to work. And maintaining the rate at 80% is a win for the pay packets of working families.
“As the economic consequences of Covid-19 become clear, unions will keep pushing for a job guarantee scheme to make sure everyone has a decent job.”
Chancellor Rishi Sunak has said he is “looking at the best thing to do” with the coronavirus self-employment income support scheme.
In an interview with the BBC, Mr Sunak was asked if he would extend
the scheme, which enables self-employed workers to claim a taxable grant of 80% of their average monthly trading profits, up to a cap.
He said: “We’re looking at the best thing to do but... the reason for that is slightly different in that many of those selfemployed people are not in sectors which are necessarily closed or have an employer who has reduced their hours.
“It is a slightly different scheme which I was clear about at the beginning, but what I would say to those people, millions of those people who are eligible, ahead of schedule the scheme is now open, they can apply this week, they’ll be getting the emails and they will have the same amount of support based on their historical earnings... by the end of the month.”
Mr Sunak also said the furlough scheme is “costing in the run rate of around £8bn per month at the moment” and said it “breaks my heart” that people have lost their jobs as a result of the crisis.
In the Commons Labour’s Gerald Jones, the MP for Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney, raised concerns about new starters.
He said: “We on this side of the House have set out ways in which the furlough scheme arrangements could be adapted to include those new starters who have just missed out without risking fraudulent payments. So will the Chancellor give these proposals urgent and serious consideration?”
Mr Sunak responded: “From announcement to the scheme going live was a matter of weeks. Thousands of people worked their socks off to make that happen and several million people’s pay packets are now being supported and paid because that all works.
“These things are not straightforward to do and the ability to change them and add complexities to them will just simply make it more likely that they don’t work, and more likely that people have to wait a lot longer to get the support that they desperately need at this time.”
Mr Sunak’s announcement on furlough came as new analysis puts the death toll at just over 40,000, following new figures on care home deaths released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
Latest figures from the Department of Health show a total of 32,692 people had died in hospitals, care homes and the wider community after testing positive for coronavirus in the UK as of 5pm on Monday, up by 627 from 32,065 the day before.
But the number of deaths involving Covid-19 that have been registered across the UK currently stands at 38,355.
This includes 35,044 deaths that occurred in England and Wales up to May 1 (and which had been registered up to May 9), according to the Office for National Statistics.
Yesterday’s figures from NHS England show that a further 1,942 hospital patients who had tested positive for Covid-19 died between May 2 and May 11 – which, together with the total figure of 38,355 registered deaths – suggests the overall death
toll for the UK is just over 40,000.
The Chancellor’s announcement came as:
■ Ryanair announced plans to return to 40% of normal flight schedules from July 1;
■ But England’s Health Secretary, Matt Hancock, said it was “unlikely” that foreign holidays would be possible this summer.
He told ITV: “It is unlikely that big, lavish international holidays are going to be possible for this summer.”
As lockdown measures are eased – with unlimited exercise and sunbathing allowed in England only from today as long as the two-metre rule is respected – the Government hopes its new contact tracing app will help keep outbreaks of coronavirus under control. Mr Hancock said the app, being trialled on the Isle of Wight, would be rolled out across England in the next week or so.
He told Sky News: “We’re pleased with progress, and we’re going to bring it in.”
At the daily No 10 press conference, NHS England medical director Stephen Powis said the numbers of fatalities in hospitals and care homes were falling. He said the number of patients in hospital with the disease was also down by 2,000 on the previous week. However, he said it was still “critical” that people continued to follow the social distancing guidelines.