Furlough scheme and support for self-employed extended

The furlough scheme is to run until the end of March, the UK Government has confirmed this afternoon.

The scheme will pay up to 80 per cent of a worker’s wage, up to £2,500 a month, and will be UK-wide and available to the devolved administrations of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Employers will be asked to cover National Insurance and employer pension contributions for hours not worked.

The scheme and the economic circumstances will be reviewed in January.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak made the announcement this afternoon in the House of Commons and follows on from furlough being extended in England after a move to lockdown today.

For the self-employed, support will be increased with the third Self-Employment Income Support Scheme grant, covering November to January, calculated at 80 per cent of average trading profits, up to a maximum of £7,500.

The announcements came as Mr Sunak outlined new funding packages for the devolved administrations, with an extra £1billion being given to the Scottish Government.

Orkney and Shetland MP, Alistair Carmichael welcomed the news and said these support measures will bring reassurance to people, particularly those in seasonal and tourist businesses.

But he did say that the Tories had only done the “right” thing after exhausting “all other possibilities”.

“The full extension to furlough through to March is absolutely the right thing to do in light of the resurgent pandemic,” said Mr Carmichael.

“More support for the self-employed is also welcome. Taken together these measures will give some reassurance to people worried about their finances through the winter months, and in particular those in seasonal and tourist businesses.

“We have to ask, however, why they made such a hash of it this week. My party has been calling for the government to see sense and extend furlough for months and yet even after the new lockdown measures, businesses and workers spent days in confusion over the government’s plan.

“With the threat of redundancies looming it took far too long for the Treasury to change course.”