LONDON (UK) – Britain’s finance minister is not intending to extend a furlough scheme that is currently planned to stop at the end of October, his colleague Dominic Raab, foreign minister, said on Wednesday.
Raab told Sky News on Wednesday, “I don’t think the Chancellor’s minded to wholesale extend the furlough scheme, we are looking at the targeted measures.”
Opposition leaders have been asking for an extension of the scheme to prevent a cliff edge effect, which they are apprehensive could leave many people jobless for good, especially as new COVID-19 restrictions could be a hindrance to the economic recovery.
Raab said that the finance minister Rishi Sunak has been reviewing all measures, and that new proposed help for employers using the retention bonus and the kickstart scheme would help ward off a cliff edge, however, the furlough would not be the answer.
He told the BBC, “I think it’s inevitable that the furlough scheme will come to an end in the way that the chancellor has described.”