CHANCELLOR Rishi Sunak has set out his plan to support jobs businesses as the furlough scheme winds up.
He told MPs he "cannot save every job - no Chancellor could", and said the economic damage to the UK from the pandemic will be deeper than previously thought.
He has announced a new jobs support scheme giving firms the chance to reduce staff working hours by 66%, paying them a third of their salary for the time they're not working.
READ MORE: What Rishi Sunak announced today and how it affects you
Firms would pay staff one third of their wages and for the time they are working. The government would pay the additional third.
He has also announced an extension to the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme, paying 20% of traders' average monthly profits via a government grant, up to a total of £1,875. It will be for people continuing to actively trade but face reduced demand due to coronavirus. The initial lump sum will cover three months’ worth of profits for the period from November to the end of January next year.
A tax cut of 15% for the hospitality and tourism sectors has been maintained, meaning these firms will only have to pay 5% VAT until March 31, 2021.
Labour shadow chancellor Anneliese Dodds welcomed the measures, but criticised the government for failing to announc measures for training.
She said: "While we welcome many of the elements the Chancellor has announced today, the lack of action on training and skills is worrying.
"The government has already allocated £3billion for a National Skills Strategy- but it’s not being delivered on the ground. So will the Chancellor work with businesses, trade unions, further and higher education and local authorities to get the training opportunities in place our country needs, so people can be ready for the jobs of the future?"
READ MORE: Sunak accused of 'disrespect' after Kate Forbes learns budget scrapped on Twitter
Mr Sunak said: “The resurgence of the virus, and the measures we need to take in response, pose a threat to our fragile economic recovery…
“Our approach to the next phase of support must be different to that which came before.
"The primary goal of our economic policy remains unchanged - to support people’s jobs - but the way we achieve that must evolve.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel