Chancellor Rishi Sunak today announced an extension of the job retention scheme to the end of October 2020, meaning the government will continue to contribute to the wages of furloughed workers.
The scheme will remain "as is" until the end of July, with the government paying employers 80% of the wages of any staff currently furloughed and not working - the criteria for which you can check in our previous articles or on the government guidance.
However after July, the scheme will continue to run, but with as yet unspecified modifications - there will be options to return furloughed staff part time to reintroduce work as the economy gradually reopens, but the government has stated that guaranteeing 80% of the furloughed employees wages will become a "joint" effort between the government and employers, which indeed suggests that they will gradually look to wind down the percentage of the employees wages they are contributing, with the scheme now set to close at the end of October.
While the aim is clearly to support all businesses throughout this incredibly difficult time, it is the leisure industry who are most likely to be the last to reopen, that this lends perhaps the most important lifeline.
As the Chair of the Treasury Committee Mel Stride MP has commented today, "The devil will be in the detail", as the government look to publish detailed guidance on the future of the job retention scheme and exactly how it will work from the end of July to October, a little later this month.
We will, as ever, be keeping our clients up to date with all the changes as they are announced.