Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what modelling his Department has undertaken to understand the effect on job losses of not extending the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.

After eight months of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS), the scheme will close. The CJRS must be temporary and the Government must ensure people can get back to work safely and get the UK economy up and running again.

Building on the action taken in the face of the immediate threat posed by the virus, the Government is now proceeding with the second phase of its response, through a targeted Plan for Jobs which will support the UK’s economic recovery while continuing to make people’s health a priority. This plan includes introducing a new Job Retention Bonus to encourage firms to keep on furloughed workers, providing £1.2 billion to significantly expand and enhance work search support, as well as additional support to people to build the skills they need to get into work, and the new £2 billion Kickstart Scheme, creating hundreds of thousands of new, fully subsidised jobs for young people.