Bectu condemns inconsistencies in targeted furlough-type plan

The new targeted, localised furlough-type scheme announced by Chancellor Rishi Sunak today (9 October) poses more questions than it answers, Bectu has warned.

Philippa Childs, head of Bectu, was responding to Sunak’s announcement that employees who work for UK firms forced to shut by law because of coronavirus restrictions are to get two-thirds of their wages paid for by the government in a scheme that begins on 1 November.

Childs said: “This new furlough scheme will help some workers, but it already poses more questions than it answers.

“How does it make sense that the government could pay the wages of a restaurant worker in Manchester, but not a theatre worker in Bristol, when both are would be effectively out of work because of government restrictions?

“And once again the Chancellor has shown himself blind to the fate of the self-employed and freelance workforce who are the backbone of the creative sector.

“The government needs to urgently address these inconsistencies and come up with a comprehensive plan that can support all sectors that will suffer as a result of ongoing COVID-19 restrictions.”

The changes, described as an extension to the Job Support Scheme, will apply on a region by region basis, depending on the level of local lockdown measures.

Mike Clancy, general secretary of parent union Prospect, said: “Without the detail of what further lockdown measures are planned by the government, it is impossible to say whether this scheme will go far enough to help save jobs in the way the Chancellor says it will.

“But already there appear to be gaping holes, for businesses that are severely impacted but not legally required to close, and for self-employed people who lose work due to further restrictions, but have yet again been totally ignored by the government.

“Prospect have always argued that if the government closes a business, or restrictions make it effectively unable to operate, then there must be action to support jobs and wages, including for the self-employed who are left without work. We need to see this principle broadly applied across the country for as long as it takes to weather this crisis.”