Crunch months for thousands of firms as furlough ends – but are there jobs to return too?
From today (September 1) businesses that have put staff on furlough will have to pay 10% of their wages with a hike to 20% next month with final payments on October 31. For a small business it means the costs of keeping staff on the scheme rises from 4% to 14% with them having to pay pension contributions and National Insurance.
Large numbers to be let go
Craig Beaumont from the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) said on Radio 4’s Today programme this morning: “One million small businesses across the country use the furlough schemes. Today is a trigger for an employer to say whether they should keep their employee’s in a job. It’s a natural point to say is there a job to come back to?”
He said 23% of employers were considering reducing their head count during the next quarter adding: “It is very serious and a huge hit on the economy as 60% of those who work in the private sector do so for a small business, so it’s a huge increase in mass unemployment.”
Ian Carrotte of ICSM Credit said: “Nearly 10 million workers have been on the scheme with 1.2 million businesses using furloughing. It is not sustainable when many firms and the self employed have been left to fend for themselves and worse still as many as a third of employees have been told to continue working which is illegal. In Germany the Government have extended their scheme until 2022 in an attempt to soften the effect of the recession.”
About ICSM Credit
ICSM Credit has more than four decades of experience as a credit intelligence group whose members gain inside information about firms in trouble allowing them to avoid bad debts and rogue traders. To join costs less than a tank of fuel - while at the moment there's a special free temporary membership offer during the Covid-19 crisis which gives access to free legal letters. ICSM also has an effective debt collecting service which has a global reach - ask for details from Paul.
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For details for the work of the journalist Harry Mottram visit www.harrymottram.co.uk