Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 23 November 2020 to Question 115670 on Offshore Industry and Shipping: Coronavirus, what recent estimate he has made of the number of employees aged (a) 16-24 and (b) 25 years or over that have benefited to date from the Job Retention Bonus payment introduced in the Plan for Jobs; and how many employers have received that payment in each industry.

The purpose of the Job Retention Bonus (JRB) was to encourage employers to keep previously furloughed staff in work until the end of January. However, as the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) has been extended to the end of March 2021, the policy intent of the JRB falls away. As such, the JRB will not be paid in February. We will set out details of how a revised retention incentive will work in due course.