Furlough scheme set to be extended to September (at reduced 60 percent rate)

[DreamChaser23]

www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2020/05/10/job-retention-scheme-set-extended-september/

An announcement is likely today or tomorrow.

Thoughts?

I think 60 percent is an impossible amount to live on. Not to mention not everyone can go back to work (i.e. no social distancing measures), (the business is still shut) A lot more people will still struggle month to month.

Knowing the Tories I wouldn't be surprised if month by month they reduce furlough from 60 to 40 then eventually getting rid of the scheme...

Tricky.
My exH (and the father of my two children) has been furloughed.
No choice and he wants to return to work asap but work rate reduced.
He is a Bus Driver - overweight, mid 50's, asthma, heart issues.
Not in any official 'at risk' group but I was not sorry as the figure for London bus drivers dying scares me - my kids need their Dad alive.
80% is better than 60%, but 60% is better than redundancy.

He is only getting 80% wages, and not allowed to take 2nd job either.

It’s far better than most countries are doing.

60% will force me to seek new work. Which will mean an end to staying at home. Is that what the government wants?

And to the people saying 'you can get another job.' Yes cause it is that easy? Especially during these times where competition is much more fierce meaning a lot of people can't get a second job

Nobody had said it’s easy! But the furloughed are in danger of no job shortly so it would be wise to at least keep checking job sites and applying for all they can- you’d be a fool not too.

'Knowing the Tories I wouldn't be surprised if month by month they reduce furlough from 60 to 40 then eventually getting rid of the scheme

Well paying people’s wage was NEVER going to be a permanent measure and rightly so. If you know of the magic money tree do tell government where it is located........

The uk has been far more generous with 80% than a lot of countries but you moan away

I think it should be 80% up till £1000 then drop to 60% as it will be just to hard on the low paid if they drop till 60%

@SporadicNamechange
Some of my friends colleagues have gone to work for a well paying supermarket. They have said they may not come back to the restaurant as the hours are better in the supermarket and it’s easier to do. I think there will be a gap of the comis and chef de partie Work if we don’t continue to pay furlough and lots of cafes and restaurants will end up with people who aren’t as qualified and just want any job.

60% will force me to seek new work. Which will mean an end to staying at home. Is that what the government wants?

Well yes IF your an able bodied adult...you work.

Did you really expect the government to keep paying your wage? how long would you like them to do that for?

60% will force me to seek new work. Which will mean an end to staying at home. Is that what the government wants?

Yes

DH and i were talking about this just this morning.

Our staff agreed that they can survive on 80% whilst furloughed but we feel we can't really expect them to go down to 60%, nor can we afford to make them redundant as i hope that work will pick up again in the long term.

Looks like a small business grant to keep topping up pay might be the way forward for us.

Reducing the percentage is designed to force people to be creative.

It will encourage people to seek new jobs where available (govt doesn't care about you keeping your existing job, it just doesn't want you to be "unemployed") or encourage employers to get people back up to full earning productivity.

@Hercwasonaroll no it’s being extended , it was never realistically going to end in June. That was just the first date.

60% will force me to seek new work. Which will mean an end to staying at home. Is that what the government wants?

Yes, obviously. The government want people working. They don't want to be paying your wages if they don't have to.

@Clevererthanyou It's an HMRC scheme, and thus not devolved.

I wonder how they would fund it. Tax is going to have to increase enormously already, and with a significant number of people not wanting to go back to work, and the unions not wanting their members to work, that only really leaves those who are working at the moment (but for many wfh is unsustainable without childcare) and the self-employed. That's a smaller number supporting a larger number. And of course it will lead to even more social division in an already horribly divided society.

There's nothing to stop businesses 'topping up' the furloughed amount to the employee's notional full salary (so the govt pays 80% of the salary and the business 20%) - it's what my place is doing.

The same would apply for 60% - business could top up to the 'usual' full whack, or 80%, or not at all.

I hate to sound like Theresa May - she was a chocolate tea pot - but there isn't infinite money, and there is a balance to be struck.

It can't be paid forever. Businesses have massively benefited from this scheme in the short term. In the long term the onus is now on them to make it safe for staff to return or wfh.

In the medium term there will be redundancies in some sectors like pubs and other leisure facilities. The employees from these won't necessarily be on big wages, and the care sector is desperate for staff. That's an industry that is hiring.

And then there is Universal Credit.

It's fucking shit but it's not uncommon for redundancy to happen. DH is self employed and went back after Easter (construction). My dsis works in care and has worked through. As has best mate. You can't keep so many millions of people at home indefinitely on most of their wages while the rest of the country puts themselves and their families at risk by keeping working.

I reckon if the furlough scheme had been limited to the sectors that were told to close the numbers taking furlough wouldn't be so high. Businesses would have found a way. They now need to find a way.

"I think 60 percent is an impossible amount to live on"

Depends of what. 60% of the maximum £2500 is more than the full time minimum wage.

And, this is going to be an unpopular opinion, but the vast majority of people should have some savings for exactly what this is, a rainy day. Not everybody will be able to afford to save, of course, but everyone who's had a holiday abroad in the last year, or bought or financed a brand new car rather than an old one, or who has major house renovations, or plastic surgery, or brought the biggest house their mortgage will stretch too, or even expensive haircuts, has deliberately chosen to spend their money on that rather than save the recommended six months - a year of their salary to give them that safety buffer.

@newyearnoeu I agree it’s an unpopular opinion but I agree that most people should have some savings to at least pay their mortgage for a couple of months. I wouldn’t get a mortgage that would not allow me to save even that small amount. A lot of people seem to be saying they are savings loads my not buying lunches or coffees at work. If they could afford those they can afford to save

There may be a new normal when the cost of flights returns to 1960s levels (out of reach of most normal people)y and 1960s eating out levels (we ate out once during entire 1960s!!!!). The things we do and the way we live may be different so those who are in the airline sector eg might see a permanent major contraction and may need to try to find other areas of work.

This. is just another "Fuck You" to mothers (who, despite the legal situation, nevertheless bear the vast majority of the burden of childcare). Without childcare and schools taking children as they normally do this will push more families and children into poverty.

Yes, my daughter who works in a bar will be out looking for work when the furlough drops to 60% as that's below her rent and bills.

Which will mean an end to staying at home. Is that what the government wants?

It’s exactly what it wants. I’d be very surprised if a list of industries which can’t operate isn’t produced and they’ll be the only ones in which furlough will be funded. We need people to get back to work if they can do so safely.

I would be well and truly fucked if it was 60% I'm in a minimum wage job , at present I get 80% , I didn't ask to be furloughed and am desperate to go back to work. My contract prohibits me from working else where and even if I could I'm 6 months pregnant so doubt I could safely work anywhere or would anyone take me on. I'm also single so don't have a partner to rely on.... the government can't expect us to stay at home and save the nhs if we don't have any money ? Not everyone has decent wages

I'm not sure businesses were taking advantage. My DH is furloughed because they are a manufacturing company with a large customer base in closed industries. Half their orders disappeared overnight. They couldn't afford to keep everyone on, so it would have been big redundancies if not.

I'm in the group that will benefit. My industry is being switched back on and I'll be going back part time. Theoretically if this is right my employer could claim furlough to top me up. But I'd much rather it was used to support those who are shielding and those in industries that stay mandated to shut. Perhaps with voluntary work provided to people in those groups.

Only big chain pubs/restaurants will survive.