‘Furlough’ scheme calls grow after Jaguar Land Rover cyberattack
Calls for a furlough-style scheme to support workers affected by the crippling cyberattack on Jaguar Land Rover grew on Wednesday, after the carmaker revealed its production would remain at a standstill for at least another week.
Thousands of workers at firms in the Range Rover maker’s supply chain have spent weeks in limbo, with some being laid off or told to “go home” since the shock hack left the carmaker unable to pay several of its suppliers.
The impasse has sparked a flurry of calls for ministers to announce a taxpayer funded payment system redolent of the furlough scheme deployed over the pandemic, to help prop up the workers and cash-strapped businesses affected by the attack.
Last week, Unite – one of the UK’s largest unions – called on the government to step in and pay the wages of the affected workers from what it said was a “vital part of the economy”, amid reports some were being made to claim universal credit.
‘Strong case’ for government support
And on Wednesday the chair of the Business and Trade Committee threw his weight behind those demands, saying there was an important “public policy case for state help” that was “growing more urgent every day”.
“There is a good, strong case for government intervention,” Labour’s Liam Byrne told the BBC. “You’ve got to recognise… [that] as the Chancellor said a couple of days ago, you have now got state-backed threats behind a lot of these cyber criminal groups, attacking firms like JLR.”
Byrne added that the escalation in government-sponsored cyberattacks had given rise to an increase of “private ownership of what is in effect a public risk”, against which it was difficult to insure against hard to defend.
The MP’s comments follow Jaguar Land Rover’s decision on Tuesday to extend the company-wide shutdown of its East Midlands plant until October, as it tries to get handle on the extent of the attack.
The saga has left the firm’s supply chain, which is believed to employ as many as 200,000 workers across dozens of businesses, starved of orders and activity leaving some of the more vulnerable firms facing the prospect of failure.
Ministers have so far ducked calls for a Covid-style furlough scheme. At a visit to JLR’s Wolverhampton plant on Tuesday, industry minister Chris McDonald said an “off the shelf” response risked helping “some businesses and not… other businesses”.
New business secretary Peter Kyle is instead mulling whether to turn the government into a purchaser of parts made by the suppliers, until JLR is able to restart its orders, according to ITV News.
Byrne, whose Birmingham constituency is nearby JLR’s plant, also confirmed his committee was assembling a meeting of affected suppliers on Thursday.
“The business and trade committee – on behalf of Parliament – is bringing together suppliers from across the supply chain tomorrow in order to try and get to the bottom of exactly what is going on, and what the impact of an extended delay would be,” he said.