Rishi Sunak urged not to cut business lifeline too soon
London business leaders today pleaded with Rishi Sunak not to ban companies from putting more staff into the “lifesaver” furlough scheme.
The Chancellor is due to announce this week details of the scheme which is paying most of the wages of eight million workers beyond the current end date of July 31.
Companies are likely to be asked to start making a 20 per cent contribution to the wages of furloughed staff, who are currently paid 80 per cent of their normal salary up to £2,500 a month.
Mr Sunak is also expected to announce a cut-off point barring employers from putting more employees on furlough or new companies joining the scheme.
Michael Lassman, London chairman of the Federation of Small Businesses, said: “It’s been a lifesaver for many small businesses, there’s no two ways about it, and if they need to they should be able to continue to access it. If there’s a cut-off that applies too soon that is going to be a concern.”
Businesses fear a wave of redundancies in the autumn if the furlough support is withdrawn too quickly.
The request came as the Treasury released new figures on the take-up of its emergency loan scheme designed to help companies survive the downturn in business through the lockdown.
They showed that by May 24, £18.49 billion of loans to 608,069 small companies had been approved under the Bounce Back Loan Scheme.
By the same date 43,045 loans worth a total of £8.15 billion had been approved for small and medium-sized businesses under the separate Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme.
For larger companies, 154 loans worth £820 million have been approved so far.
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