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License payments will be spread to 80% during England’s second blockade, the prime minister confirmed.
After announcing the the strictest general measures against coronavirus Since March, Boris Johnson said that the licensing plan would continue through November until December 2.
He said the end of the plan, in which employees will receive four-fifths of their current salary up to a maximum of £ 2,500 for hours not worked, would coincide with the “easing of restrictions” and a return to employment. stepped system.
Toy stores will be empty as non-essential stores will close again
He said the scheme would differ from when it was first introduced, and that it now has a “limited time.” He also apologized for the difficulties companies faced as a result of the second shutdown.
“That is why we are going to extend the licensing system until November. The licensing scheme was a success in the spring and it helped people in business at a critical time,” he said.
“We will not finish it, we will extend the license until December.”
This move could prove crucial for nonessential retail and hospitality services that were forced to close in the four-week shutdown, along with pubs, cafes and restaurants, which can only offer takeout.
However, Trades Union Congress (TUC) secretary general Frances O’Grady said families would face a “bleak winter” due to the delay in support.
She said: “The extension of the licensing plan is long overdue and necessary, but ministers must do more to protect jobs and prevent poverty.
“Pay for leave should never fall below the national minimum wage.”
Universal Credit should be promoted, he said, while urging the government not to “abandon” the self-employed.
There were also calls from business leaders to have the Test and Trace system fixed so that workers are not asked to isolate themselves without receiving sufficient sick pay.
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Jonathan Geldart, CEO of the Institute of Directors, said the new restrictions would cause “great strain on an already fragile business community,” but said the license would be a relief for many companies.
“Managers of small businesses who have been left without support during the crisis should be helped by grants from local authorities,” he added.
Both British Retail Consortium CEO Helen Dickinson and Jace Tyrrell, New West End Company CEO, described the closure as a “nightmare before Christmas.”
These pub messages are likely to be harder to come by in November
Dickinson said: “It will cause incalculable damage to Main Street in the run-up to Christmas, cost countless jobs and permanently delay the recovery of the overall economy, with minimal effect on virus transmission.”
He said the previous closure cost non-essential stores a weekly loss of £ 1.6bn and he expected the impact of the second closure to be worse.
She suggested there could be “a significant economic impact on the viability of thousands of stores and hundreds of thousands of jobs across the country,” despite the thousands of pounds that retailers have spent on safe measures against COVID.
Tyrrell said the months leading up to Christmas this year are turning out to be “some of the toughest trading periods we’ve ever experienced.”
“Retailers and the public need to be sure that there is light at the end of the tunnel, as continued uncertainty and measures to stop the start are undermining confidence and worsening an already catastrophic situation,” he said.
Echoing Tyrrell was Wales’ general counsel Jeremy Miles, who tweeted: “This should have spread a long time ago.
“And if you believe in ‘We Stand Together,’ why didn’t you act when it was companies and workers from Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and the North of England who were looking for support?”
