Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
Rishi Sunak could ask thousands of small businesses to cover national insurance and pension contributions of staff on furlough from August.
Earlier this month, announcing the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme would be extended until the end of October, the chancellor said that businesses would have to share some of the cost with government.
>See also: Rishi Sunak extends job retention furlough scheme to October
According to Bloomberg, one idea under consideration is asking small businesses to share the pain by covering national insurance contributions and auto-enrollment pension contributions of furloughed staff.
Over a million businesses have furloughed staff through the CJRS, which covers up to 80 per cent of an employee’s wages capped at £2,500 per month.
The fear is that asking mothballed businesses to cover national insurance and pension contributions will only hasten the inevitable redundancies when people come out of furlough. The gloomy prognosis is that a million or so workers currently furloughed have already lost their jobs but are being kept on furlough ventilator support.
>See also: Government launches business Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme
The government has been paying 80 per cent of the wages of about eight million workers. CJRS has cost more than £11bn and