This content is restricted to site members. If you are an existing user, please log in. New users may register below.
How HR can prepare for end of Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme Exclusive myGrapevine+ insight into how the function can manage the end of the furlough scheme, with insight into redundancy management, adjusting for staff, reskilling workers and what other solutions exist… From July 2021, the furlough scheme – also known as the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, introduced as an economy and employment safeguarding measure when the coronavirus pandemic hit last year – started to be wound down, with a view to wrapping it up completely by September. Under the scheme, furloughed employees would usually get 80% of their usual pay for hours not worked up to a maximum of £2,500, giving many employers much-needed support during the economic fallout of COVID. But the numbers, figures suggest, are already shifting. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported on May 1 2020 that two thirds of businesses had furloughed employees (out of more than 5,000 businesses surveyed, 66% had used the government’s job retention scheme to avoid making redundancies), whereas the government reported in October 2020 that 28% of employers had staff on furlough, with employers of 250+ employees most likely to have claimed under CJRS to support the furlough of
