Cut-off date for furlough scheme extended

More than 200,000 more UK employees could now be furloughed following changes to the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.

The scheme will take applications from Monday from companies which have laid off workers. Initially, it only supported those already employed on February 28th. The cut-off date has now been extended to March 19th.

Workers need to have been on the payroll by March 19th – the day before the scheme was first announced. This will not cover people who were not put on the PAYE system until later in the month.

The latest coronavirus business impact tracker from the British Chambers of Commerce shows 66% of smaller firms in the UK have furloughed employees and are set to make claims for taxpayer money to pay staff wages.

Meanwhile, one in four FTSE 100 companies has reduced the amount paid to chief executives in the face of the coronavirus crisis, according to research from the High Pay Centre. Most bosses at the 25 companies which have cut pay have reduced their salaries and fees by 20%.

• Vote  
• 0
• 0
• You already voted!