Show us way out of Tier 3, pleads business chief amid closure fears
Sunak urged to do more for low- paid as new less generous scheme starts
ONE OF West Yorkshire’s most prominent business voices says all confidence will be lost in the Government if it does not provide a strategy for coming out of Tier 3 Covid- 19 restrictions.
The county will be placed in the Government’s most severe local lockdown curbs on Monday, with thousands of businesses potentially having to close their doors to contain the spread of the virus.
The changes will mean soft play areas, betting shops, casinos and pubs and bars not serving substantial meals having to shut their doors. The West Yorkshire restrictions will be reviewed after 28 days.
Martin Hathaway, managing director of the Mid Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce, said: “Although businesses will be disappointed at being placed in Tier 3 at this time, we are confident that the necessary support will be in place to mitigate the challenges that business will face.
“The important thing is that we now all adhere to the restrictions so we can get back to normal as soon as possible. The Government, however, needs to provide a clear strategy for exiting Tier 3 or all business confidence will be lost.”
Around 570,000 people a week are becoming infected with coronavirus across England, new figures show, as senior scientists warned that a national lockdown was now needed.
Hull, the East Riding and northern Lincolnshire move into Tier 2 restrictions this weekend, joining City of York.
NEARLY one in every 13 workers in the UK may have been on furlough as of mid- October, just weeks before the Government support scheme comes to an end this weekend.
Figures from the Office of National Statistics showed 7.5 per cent of the workforce was receiving support from the Government between October 5 and 18, which would be equivalent to more than two million people.
The figures are experimental and based on reports from trading businesses which responded to an ONS survey.
This is a sharp fall from June 1 to 14, when 29.5 per cent of the country’s workers were benefitting from the scheme, while the number of jobs furloughed peaked at 8.9 million in early May.
Between March and August, the Government covered 80 per cent of the salaries of all employees who had been furloughed, with no cost to the employer under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.
But from the beginning of September, employers had to step in to cover 10 per cent of the funding, up to a maximum of £ 312.50 a month. In October, this employer contribution doubled.
The furlough scheme will be replaced with the less generous Job Support Scheme from tomorrow and will cover employees doing 20 per cent of their usual work who will receive at least 73
per cent of their normal pay. The amount employers are required to pay to top up their wages is five per cent of unworked hours.
Concerns have been raised that the more generous support system will cease just as the public health situation with the coronavirus gets worse.
Trades Union Congress general secretary Frances O’Grady said: “Stopping the devastation of mass unemployment must be the Government’s top priority.
“But from this weekend, the financial support for workers and businesses will fall, despite the
public health crisis getting worse. And that will mean employers will lay people off.
“No- one should lose their job just because of the coronavirus restrictions.
“Ministers must do more to
stop mass unemployment and protect livelihoods – especially for those on lower incomes and the self- employed.”
London mayor Sadiq Khan said the end of the furlough scheme would increase “anxieties” faced by workers. “It is low- paid Londoners from the most deprived parts of the capital who have been most reliant on the furlough scheme, and are at most risk of falling into greater financial hardship,” he said.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak has already made the new scheme more generous than initially proposed,
offering grants of up to £ 2,100 a month for firms in Tier 2 areas of England, such as York, Hull, the East Riding and North Lincolnshire primarily aimed at helping hospitality and leisure venues.
The number of hours of people working in “viable” jobs was also cut, along with the employer contribution.
A report from the International Monetary Fund – which projected the UK economy will contract by 10.4 per cent in 2020 and grow by only 5.7 per cent next year – said there was a case
to spend more money to fuel the recovery, if the effectiveness of projects could be maintained.
In reply, Mr Sunak, Conservative MP for Richmondshire in North Yorkshire, said: “We have a responsibility to ensure the next generation inherits a strong economy backed by strong public finances.
“Let’s be clear on what the fund are saying today: it’s right to support the economy in the short term but over time, and in line with other major economies, we must get our public finances back on a sustainable path.”
Stopping the devastation of mass unemployment must be top priority. Trades Union Congress general secretary Frances O’Grady.