On 5 November 2020, the Chancellor announced that the furlough
scheme will be extended until the 31 March 2021, with a review to
take place in January 2021. This update is based on our current
understanding of the rules, as published on 6 November 2020.
In our previous article, we confirmed that the
Government was going to extend the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme
('CJRS') until 2 December 2020, which is the current
duration of the national lockdown in England.
However, yesterday the Government announced that, as the impact
of lockdown extends beyond the duration of the lockdown itself, the
CJRS will be extended until 31 March 2021. Unless otherwise stated,
the rules will remain the same as under the previous extension of
the CJRS (as covered in our previous article). A review
will be carried out in January 2021 to decide whether economic
circumstances are improvising to the extent that employers will be
asked to contribute more.
