Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme

(asked on 14th October 2020) - View Source

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of reducing Government wage subsidies from 80 per cent to 67 per cent during the covid-19 outbreak; and what assessment he has made of the effect of implementing that reduction on people on the minimum wage.


Answered by
Steve Barclay Portrait
Steve Barclay
Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
This question was answered on 20th October 2020

Overall levels of support have been generous by international standards, including compared to countries like Germany and France, or Ireland where eligibility criteria means many companies don’t even qualify for support.

The government has always been clear that paying 80% of normal pay through CJRS, supporting 9.6 million jobs at a level far higher than almost anywhere in the world, is simply not sustainable.

The new Job Support Scheme (JSS) will support businesses that need it most; protecting jobs in businesses facing lower demand over the winter due to Covid-19 and helping them prepare for recovery. Where the Government has had to go further on health restrictions and close business premises in some areas, the Job Support Scheme is being expanded to protect jobs and help businesses reopen more quickly once those restrictions are lifted. The scheme will cover businesses that are legally required to close their premises as a direct result of Coronavirus restrictions set by one or more of the four governments in the UK.

For low income households, Universal Credit provides further income protection. A working household on the Universal Credit taper will see their UC award increase by 63p for every £1 they lose in earnings (and for those households that also pay income tax and NICs, the impact on their overall income will be even smaller).

Companies can of course top up employees’ wages, and the JSS forms just one part of a wider package of government support for individuals, including rental support, mortgage holidays, and extra funding for the welfare safety net.

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