Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
UPDATED: Chancellor Rishi Sunak is due to announce a further Local Furlough Scheme for businesses caught out by hard local lockdowns.
The government will cover 100 per cent of staff wages for small businesses ordered to close in areas in hardest-hit regions.
Larger firms blindsided by the highest lockdown level will have between 60 per cent and 80 per cent of staff wages covered.
Manchester, Liverpool and other areas of the North are expected to go into harder lockdown early next week, once the government launches its new traffic-light system for dealing with coronavirus outbreaks.
>See also: Rishi Sunak plans grants for small businesses hit by hard lockdown
London is expected to follow shortly, following a warning from Mayor Sadiq Khan.
Meanwhile help for hospitality businesses forced to close in Scotland will get their own £40m support package.
The Local Furlough Scheme is far more generous than the Jobs Support Scheme, announced last month, as the successor to the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, which ends on October 31.
>See also: Local lockdowns only make the problem of late payment worse
Every business in the UK is eligible for the Jobs Support Scheme from November, which covers one third of the wages for