Chancellor Extends Furlough Until The End Of April 2021

The Chancellor is increasing support for businesses during the Coronavirus pandemic by extending the Coronavirus Job Support Scheme (CJRS) until the 30th of April 2021 ...

Eligibility for CJRS remains unchanged, and 80% of an employee's salary will continue to be paid by the Government. This applies to all devolved administrations as well. The Chancellor has a difficult balancing act right now dealing with both the Coronavirus pandemic and the Brexit deadline.

Arguably, there would be further redundancies and job cuts in the new year when the scheme was supposed to end. Extending furlough until the 30th of April 2021 gives the Chancellor plenty of time to prepare for his Budget on the 3rd of March, which will set out the next phase of the scheme with plenty of time left to support employees.

With new Tier 4 announcements, Wales going into complete lockdown and Scotland closing its border with the rest of the United Kingdom for the next few weeks, this extension really is good news as far as I'm concerned!

The only downside to the CJRS extension is that it means the Government sees the pandemic continuing on for longer than originally thought. With the rollout of mass vaccinations, we should be back to relative normality by Easter, though I do feel the Government is covering all its bases with this extension until the end of April.

"In addition, application dates for loans such as CBILS and BBL are being extended by two extra months until the 31st of March 2021!"

The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme has underwritten over 9 million jobs, and the loan schemes have helped millions of businesses, large and small, to stay afloat. However, I do feel that the Budget in March 2021 will announce a number of tax increases (rather than spending cuts), so we'll have to wait and see what impact that will have on the economy.

"And Finally!"

As the Essendon office is located within a Tier 4 region we have taken the decision to close the building while restrictions are in place. The team will continue to serve their clients from their workstations at home. In order to recharge the batteries, the team will then break up for the year at 5pm on 23rd December and then return on Monday 4th January 2021.

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