Furlough extended until end of September?

[Thedarksideofthemoon30]

Wtf.. how are we ever going to pay this back? And why have they extended it?!

As I have said before, some people really are a little delusional as to how this will all plan out. I am dreading how the next few years will look for us all in terms of all this borrowing. I know people will say it's better than mass unemployment but it is still terrifying
Thing is who knows?

What I can't get my head around is if you lost your job in March 2020 and had to claim UC then you would receive around £450 a month plus housing costs yet if you were furloughed you would receive up to £2000 a month.

Meant to add that neither choice is the actual person's choice or "fault", just sheer chance.

What I can't get my head around is if you lost your job in March 2020 and had to claim UC then you would receive around £450 a month plus housing costs yet if you were furloughed you would receive up to £2000 a month.

The difference is the scale of it plus in some ways you need to keep the industries going so when stuff opens up again they still exist.

I know people will say it's better than mass unemployment but it is still terrifying.

I can't see how it's not better than mass unemployment. This way people have probably had the confidence to spend, time to look for something else, not lost their house, etc.

I guess the gov want us to spend our way out of a recession.

I do wonder if the Government honestly expected the pandemic to be over in 12 weeks like they told us last year.

@StarCat2020

As I have said before, some people really are a little delusional as to how this will all plan out. I am dreading how the next few years will look for us all in terms of all this borrowing. I know people will say it's better than mass unemployment but it is still terrifying Thing is who knows?

What I can't get my head around is if you lost your job in March 2020 and had to claim UC then you would receive around £450 a month plus housing costs yet if you were furloughed you would receive up to £2000 a month.

Exactly!

Why is it acceptable to have a two tier benefit system? Oh, of course because we can't have too many of the middle class suffering on Universal credit.

If the furlough scheme had to continue, they should have paid it at 50 or 60% with a minimum amount set at minumum wage levels.

As for the self employment schemes whilst a lifeline to many, a fair few didn't need it. A neighbour has used the generous payments to redecorate and refurnish their entire home. They didn't need it to support their business as they operated as a takeaway and had good outdoor seating. Much easier to do as they operated outside of the city centre and weren't devasted by the loss of trade from office workers switching to working at home.

I feel sorry for future generations being saddled with paying the national debt off through increased taxes and reduced services.

It’s easy to judge the furlough scheme and what people should get when you are not using it. As usual high earners with a business that is in an industry that will be last to open I for one am incredibly pleased of this news. We were forced to not operate, we have lost thousands in income in the last year. Absolutely not personal choice. We want to be working. My husbands mental health has certainly suffered.

It’s easy to judge the furlough scheme and what people should get when you are not using it
With respect, how do you know if any other posters are using the furlough scheme or not?

Why is it acceptable to have a two tier benefit system? Oh, of course because we can't have too many of the middle class suffering on Universal credit.

Is there data to show middle classes are more likely to be furloughed!? The sectors impacted the most are travel, leisure & hospitality with young people and women in particular more likely to be furloughed. Plenty of these people have lost the jobs.

If the furlough scheme had to continue, they should have paid it at 50 or 60% with a minimum amount set at minumum wage levels.

Explain why it should have been set like this? The government stopped these jobs from operating, many will have had their salary cut as there was a cap.

With respect, how do you know if any other posters are using the furlough scheme or not?

I don't think it's a huge leap to think those who are critical of furlough & think mass unemployment or heavily reduced wages are a better alternative are unlikely to have had to use the scheme.
Im public sector so couldn't be furloughed but I am capable of critical thinking.

I don't think it's a huge leap to think those who are critical of furlough & think mass unemployment or heavily reduced wages are a better alternative are unlikely to have had to use the scheme
If only.

Unfortunately I lost my job last March and once my savings were gone I had to claim Universal Credit.

I have since applied for so many jobs (anything and everything) yet nothing.

In my local area, UC claims have increased 8-fold since March 2020.

So you aren't using the scheme but resent it because you lost your job?

I have since applied for so many jobs (anything and everything) yet nothing

Hopefully things will look up so.

In my local area, UC claims have increased 8-fold since March 2020.

Yes unemployment has increased but furlough will save some jobs & some businesses.

@StarCat2020

I do wonder if the Government honestly expected the pandemic to be over in 12 weeks like they told us last year.

Either they didn't in which case they lied. Or they did - in which case they are absolutely stupid. Germany and France etc set up long term furlough (two years) at the outset. The UK government had the same info as them, they just didn;t want to make the kind of investment those countries have done. By keeping it short term they reduced the calls for proper sick pay, support to isolate. If they had admitted at the outset it was anything but a short term crisis, they would have had to address the real issues.

The government IMO started bullshitting in January 2020 and are still doing it.

So you aren't using the scheme but resent it because you lost your job
Not the scheme as such but the whole shit show of the past year.

Hopefully things will look up so
Thank you!!

You can’t ask people to remain in employment at a closed business unless you pay them. Furlough has been extended until just after we are meant to reopen. It seems an excellent investment to me, both to bring down COVID and to allow the affected sectors to reopen.

Offsetting the £54bio cost of furlough will be a saving in unemployment benefit and a tax benefit when the sector reopens.

To put the £54 bio in perspective, it is 25% of the NHS budget and only 2.5x more than we have spent on test and trace (now where did that all go?!). We also intend to spend more than this on ONE medium sized infrastructure project (HS2).

In terms of how the government spends its tax revenue, furlough is one of the most effective.

Good post. A lot of people forgot that one aim of furlough was to reduce the spread of covid which in turn would benefit more.

It is shocking how much money was spent on the "world-beating" Test & Trace.

I think this shows that the government know that UC is not enough to live on. I also think furlough will be around for a lot longer than September, but will probably dissappear briefly only to be brought back and rebranded at some point. It will be a permanent two tier benefits system.

Good news. It's better than letting loads of businesses fold and millions more people on UC.

It will probably dissappear briefly only to be brought back and rebranded at some point
Maybe Universally Lough??

Nothing wrong with extending it for the sectors that need it because they can't open properly or suppliers to businesses that can't open properly but they should be tightening up with the chancers that are just using it to lessen their wage bill

It's to avoid mass redundancies in sectors which will be unable to open up in the first wave of changes to restrictions.

It's not about being nice (or the shielded would have had an absolute right to it if they could not WFH), it's about avoiding even worse - saving some jobs and spreading out the lay-offs which prove unavoidable

So there is a Magic Money Tree.

Not like the one that made the Labour Party so ridiculous, oh no.

@Thedarksideofthemoon30

Wtf.. how are we ever going to pay this back? And why have they extended it?!

We will all pay a bit more on everything, council tax because government funding will be frozen, income tax by no raising thresholds, VAT rises, everyone will pay more, some a bit, some a bit more.

Extending it will hopefully mean more employees will have work to return to and be part of the workforce contributing to the economic recovery than on benefits for the foreseeable.

It’s been extended because there are significant parts of the economy that can’t re-open until June at the earliest and even then won’t be fully geared up capacity-wise until September.

It’ll be paid for by taxation and cutting public services.

I’m failing to see what’s confusing about it.

We won't be paying a 'bit more back, it will be substantial over time. The sheer amount of borrowing is eye-watering.
People think that we can spend our way out of a recession, maybe the rich and those in secure jobs but for a lot of us, we will be struggling to keep our heads above board. Definitely no holidays or anything extravagant over the next year or so for me.