Originally written by Anna Jordan on Small Business
UPDATED: Rishi Sunak has extended the 80 per cent furlough scheme until the end of March 2021, capped at £2,500 per worker.
The extended furlough scheme will operate across the UK, not just England as originally announced, and employers need only cover National Insurance and pension contributions.
To be eligible for the scheme, employees do not need to have been placed on furlough previously but must have been on an employer’s RTI payroll submission on or before October 30 2020.
An employer may rehire an employee to place them on furlough if they were made redundant after September 23.
Further guidance is due to be released on November 10.
However, it is unlikely that many businesses, having gone through the process and cost of the redundancy, will have a change of heart and rehire employeees – leaving the chancellor open to criticism that he should have been bolder and extended the furlough earlier.
The Bank of England said it expects 5.5 million people to be on the furlough scheme this month, which the Resolution Foundation said would cost £6.2bn. The cost in future months will be lower if the economy reopens. At the height of the pandemic in April