Furlough to continue until September but WON’T be extended as June 21 roadmap delayed
FURLOUGH will not be extended after it was announced that the final stage of lockdown lifting has been delayed.
The failure to prolong the financial support comes as businesses like nightclubs will stay closed for longer too.
🔵 Read our coronavirus live blog for the latest updates
The expected June 21 date for reopening was today pushed back to July 19.
The furlough scheme, which has helped support the wages of millions of workers during the coronavirus pandemic, will still continue until September as planned.
No extension was announced for the programme, as Prime Minister Boris Johnson said there would be longer to wait until "freedom day" and the end of all coronavirus rules.
It means businesses like nightclubs and larger events must remain shut for at least another month.
Can I be made redundant if I'm on furlough?
EVEN though furlough is designed to keep workers employed, unfortunately it doesn't protect you from being made redundant.
But it doesn't affect your redundancy pay rights if you are let go from your job amid the coronavirus crisis.
Your employer should still carry out a fair redundancy process.
You will be entitled to be consulted on the redundancy lay-off first and to receive a statutory redundancy payment, as long as you've been working somewhere for at least two years.
How much you're entitled to depends on your age and length of service, although this is capped at 20 years. You'll get:
- Half a week’s pay for each full year you were under 22,
- One week’s pay for each full year you were 22 or older, but under 41,
- One and half week’s pay for each full year you were 41 or older.
Sadly, you won't be entitled to a payout if you've been working for your employer for fewer than two years.
There should be a period of collective consultation as well as time for individual ones if your employer wants to make 20 or more employees redundant within 90 days or each other.
You are also entitled to appeal the decision by claiming unfair dismissal within three months of being let go.
If you're made redundant after your company has gone into administration you can claim redundancy pay .
Mr Johnson said: "It's unmistakably clear that vaccines are working and the sheer scale of the vaccine roll-out has made our position incomparably better than in previous waves.
"But now is the time to ease off the accelerator because by being cautious now we have the chance in the next four weeks to save many thousands of lives by vaccinating millions more people."
Downing Street left open the option of ending restrictions on July 5 if the data proves drastically better than expected but conceded this is "unlikely".
It was also announced that:
- Weddings will be able to have as many guests as the venue can fit while keeping social distancing in a joy for thousands of couples
- The Government's work from home guidance will remain in place
- Furlough will not be extended and will end in September as planned
- Vaccine passports will be trialled at some upcoming Euros matches
- Over-40s will now receive their second jab after eight weeks not 12
- Another review of the data will be conducted on June 28 to see if lockdown can end early
- MPs will vote on the delay to lockdown next Wednesday
- Care home residents returning from hospital will no longer need to isolate for 14 days
- Face masks and social distancing will stay for now
- Cases are up a third in a week, as another 7,700 people test positive
- But hopeful PHE data revealed that the variants ARE still tackled effectively with the various vaccines
- Vaccines will open for 23 and 24-year-olds from TOMORROW
- The rule of six will stay inside - and a cap of 30 will still apply outdoors for the meantime
- Some businesses such as nightclubs will have to stay shut for even longer
- The news means larger group holidays will have to be cancelled for the next month at least
It leaves businesses like night clubs unable to reopen and large events still not allowed to go ahead.
The furlough scheme pays workers 80% of wages for hours not worked, up to £2,500 a month.
The temporary scheme to help those unable to work because of the pandemic has already been extended a number of times.
Furlough was first announced by Chancellor Rishi Sunak at the start of the pandemic last year when the county first went into lockdown.
In his most recent announcement about the scheme which took place during the March 2021 Budget, Mr Sunak said the coronavirus job support scheme will continue to cover a portion of people's salaries until September.
The date is three months after June 21 when all restrictions had been set to end.
Businesses will have to contribute 10% of the cost from July, increasing to 20% in August and September as the economy hopefully reopens.
Businesses have previously urged the Chancellor to delay the withdrawal of funds if lockdown was extended beyond June 21.
But reports suggest that the September deadline already factors in any delays to reopening.
Furlough has protected more than 11million jobs since its creation in March 2020 at a cost of £64billion.
Most read in Money
The economy grew by 2.3% in April when pubs, shops and restaurants could open again following months of lockdown closures.
READ MORE SUN STORIES
The Delta Covid variant doubles the risk of ending up in hospital compared to the Kent strain, new data has found.
All over-40s could get their second Covid vaccine jab sooner to beat the Delta variant, experts have said.