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A group of multi-party MPs has urged Chancellor Rishi Sunak to consider “specific extensions” to the coronavirus licensing scheme.
The wage subsidy plan, which has supported millions of workers temporarily laid off due to the pandemic, will end on October 31, and some fear that could mean large-scale job losses.
Now the Treasury Select Committee, led by Conservative MP Mel Stride, has joined calls from industry groups and opposition politicians to consider continuing support in some form.
Stride said: “The Chancellor should carefully consider the specific extensions to the Coronavirus Job Retention Plan and explain his findings.
“The key will be to help those companies that, with additional support, can overcome the crisis as sustainable companies, rather than focusing on those that, sadly, will not be viable in the changing post-crisis economy.”
The committee’s latest report on the economic impact of the pandemic also calls for new efforts to stimulate consumer spending, following the popularity of the Eat out to help initiative.
Among other recommendations, pressures the chancellor to establish a “roadmap” to repair battered public finances after the crisis.
The report warns against over-hasty tax increases that could stifle an economic recovery, but describes the lifting of the “triple lockdown” guarantee on state pension increases as a “sensible proposition,” despite a conservative manifesto being released. undertakes to maintain it.
On the licensing regime, the report cites the needs of “a large part of companies in sectors such as hospitality and leisure that are suffering the most from social distancing” that “may still have a viable long-term future at the end of October. “. when the scheme should end.
Figures from the Treasury last month showed 9.6 million jobs have been supported by the initiative at a cost so far of more than £ 35bn. Mr Sunak has insisted that it will not be extended.
Instead, the government has offered employers a £ 1,000 bonus for every returning unlicensed worker, although the select committee report said that in many cases this will cover employees who would have returned to work anyway.
Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey has backed ending the licensing scheme, but others, including Labor, have called for it to be reconsidered.
The Treasury said it “will continue to innovate in income and employment support through our Employment Plan,” but did not comment on the report’s recommendations.
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Mike Cherry, president of the Federation of Small Businesses, said the government should look closely at a possible successor to the licensing scheme.
He said: “The priority should be to protect viable small businesses, and all the jobs they provide, that have been disproportionately affected by the coronavirus crisis.”
Steve Turner, deputy general secretary of the Unite union, said: “Hundreds of thousands of workers could face a desperate future unless the prime minister and the chancellor act quickly to modify the Job Retention Plan.”
Germany has agreed to extend an employment support plan for your workers until the end of next year.
