LONDON (UK) – Finance Minister Rishi Sunak said on Friday that extending the furlough scheme would give false hopes to some employees that they could return to their jobs once the pandemic crisis is over.
In the wake of mounting redundancies, the opposition and think tanks have been demanding the finance minister to extend the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, which is expiring in October.
The minister has made it clear that extension of the programme was out of the question and he was supported by Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey on Thursday.
“It’s wrong to keep people trapped in a situation and pretend that there is always a job that they can go back to,” Sunak said.
Sunak added that the government had taken steps to provide people with new opportunities, including apprenticeships and training during what “is unquestionably going to be a difficult time”.
Think tank National Institute of Economic and Social Research said last week that closing the furlough scheme early would be a “mistake” that would cause joblessness to surge.
According to the BoE estimates, 7.5 million workers had benefited from the furlough scheme during its peak and 4 million had now returned to work.
(Photos syndicated via Reuters)
This story has been edited by BH staff and is published from a syndicated field