Once More With Furlough 2.0

There is no denying the scale of support provided to businesses since the Spring, albeit at considerable cost to the taxpayer, not least through the lauded furlough scheme. With a second national lockdown starting in early November, the Government had announced an extension to the furlough scheme for just one month; but on the first day the new lockdown, the Chancellor confirmed that the extended scheme will in fact run until the end of March 2021.

In an exceptionally fluid situation, we still await the fine detail of the extended furlough scheme; it has previously been made clear that it will technically be a new scheme rather than a simple continuation of the old one.

What the extension of the scheme means for many employers and employees is a temporary reprieve in terms of substantial job losses over the Christmas and New Year period. However, with a review (leading to a potential increase) of employer contributions in January, the underlying health of most