The Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, has this afternoon announced to the Commons that the Job Retention Scheme, which is coming to an end in October, will be replaced by a new Job Support Scheme at the beginning of November and will run for 6 months.
The scheme is designed to support ‘viable jobs’If you wo and aims to encourage employers to keep employees on their books, rather than making them redundant.
The new Job Support Scheme will protect the wages of employees working at least a third of their usual hours which will be paid by the employer who will also be paying a third of the hours not worked which will then be matched by the Government.
Normal Working Hours 40
Employee working part time – 13 hours – paid for by the employer
The employer would then pay an additional 9 hours (one third of non working hours)
The government would then pay an additional 9 hours
The employee would receive 31 hours pay (77% of salary)
Explaining the scheme Mr Sunak said ‘The Jobs Support Scheme is built on three principles.
‘First, it will support viable jobs. To make sure of that employees must work at least a third of their normal hours and be paid for that work as normal by their employer.
‘The Government, together with employers, will then increase those people’s wages covering two-thirds of the pay they have lost by reducing their working hours, and the employee will keep their job.
‘Second, we will target support at firms who need it the most. All small and medium-sized businesses are eligible but larger businesses only when their turnover has fallen through the crisis.
‘Third, it will be open to employers across the United Kingdom, even if they have not previously used the furlough scheme.
‘The scheme will run for six months starting in November and employers retaining furloughed staff on shorter hours can claim both the Jobs Support Scheme and the Jobs Retention bonus.’
