Chancellor extends furlough, business loan schemes

The government’s furlough scheme has been extended to the end of April 2021, the Chancellor announced on Thursday, with the government continuing to contribute 80% towards wages.

Rishi Sunak said the move would give businesses and employees certainty into the new year.

Sunak also confirmed that the government-guaranteed Covid-19 business loan schemes would be extended until the end of March.

Those schemes included the Bounce Back Loan Scheme, Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme, and the Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Loan Scheme, which had been due to close at the end of January.

The changes came ahead of the Budget, which the Chancellor confirmed would take place on 3 March.

That would deliver what he described as the next phase of the plan to tackle the virus and protect jobs, with the extensions to the business loan and furlough schemes enabling businesses to plan and access support in the first few months of 2021, ahead of the further update on wider Covid-19 economic support at Budget time.

So far, the Chancellor said the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) had protected 9.6 million jobs across the UK, with more than one million businesses accessing loans to help them through the crisis.

“Our package of support for businesses and workers continues to be one of the most generous and effective in the world - helping our economy to recover and protecting livelihoods across the country,” Rishi Sunak said.

“We know the premium businesses place on certainty, so it is right that we enable businesses to plan ahead regardless of the path the virus takes, which is why we’re providing certainty and clarity by extending this support, as well as implementing our Plan for Jobs.”