Extension to furlough scheme welcome but 'long overdue', says Scotland's Finance Secretary
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
The announcement by Chancellor Rishi Sunak to extend the furlough scheme has been welcomed by Scotland's Finance Secretary Kate Forbes although she said it was long overdue.
The chancellor said the scheme, which will pay up to 80 per cent of a person's wage up to £2500 a month, will be extended until March.
"We have repeatedly urged the UK Government to safeguard jobs by guaranteeing that this support will be available for as long as employers need it," Ms Forbes said.
"Months of unnecessary confusion caused by the UK Government means that some employers have already taken the difficult decision to make people redundant because they expected the scheme to be withdrawn.
"I welcome the Chancellor’s indication that, as in March, employers may be able to bring back people they have made redundant and include them in the furlough scheme, which could go some way to addressing this."
She also welcomed the extension of the Self Employment Income Support Scheme for people who were eligible but maintained it remained poorly targeted and offered no relief for people who had become self-employed more recently.
"I call upon the Chancellor to review the entry criteria, as he now has with the Job Retention Scheme, to open up this support to self-employed people who have so far been excluded," Ms Forbes said.
"The upfront guarantee of further consequential payments to cover the rest of the financial year meets another of our long term requests and will enable us to quickly tackle the impacts of the pandemic in Scotland as they arise.
"This covers consequentials arising from a number of areas including health.
"Other issues remain to be resolved, including how funding is provided for demand-led business support, where demand is greater than the Barnett share, but I am pleased that the Chancellor has today listened to and addressed some of our concerns.”
