Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, prior to taking his decision to introduce the Job Retention Bonus, what assessment his Department made of the potential merits of allocating the funding assigned to that Bonus to either (a) reducing the level of employer contribution to the Job Support Scheme or (b) providing sector-specific job support schemes during the covid-19 outbreak.

The combination of the Job Retention Bonus (JRB) and the Job Support Scheme (JSS) will help to protect jobs. The JRB helps with employers' costs: for the average claim, the JRB will subsidise about 20% of the employment costs from November to January. For employees at the lower earnings limit, it will subsidise about 60% of employment costs.