The Chancellor unveiled his Winter Economy Plan yesterday, which included a new Job Support Scheme for six months to replace the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme when it ends on 31 October.  Employees will be required to work a third of their regular hours to qualify, with the Government and employer each contributing 33% of the employee’s usual pay for hours not worked.

This means that an employer will pay around 55% of an employee’s usual pay to keep them employed.  Some critics have made the point it appears to be better to keep one person on full time working rather than two people for 33% of their time although this does not take into account redundancy or subsequent recruitment costs etc.

The Self Employment Income Support Scheme will also be extended until April 2021.

Applications for the Government’s coronavirus loan schemes will be extended until 30 November, with a successor ‘loan guarantee programme’ to be launched in January 2021.  The Bounce Back Loan Scheme will be supplemented by a ‘Pay as You Grow’ scheme, which will enable loans to be extended from six to 10 years, and both the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme and Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Loan Scheme will see their terms extended up to a maximum of 10 years where required.