Major UK business body calls for furlough scheme extension to July
One of the UK’s largest business lobbies is calling for the government to extend the furlough scheme to July and to give out a fresh round of business grants worth £25,000 each.
The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) also called for temporary VAT cuts and business rates relief to be extended, with the group saying “certainty is needed to help protect jobs and livelihoods”.
It comes as the BCC’s quarterly survey recently revealed that all key economic indicators were well below pre-crisis levels and that four in ten firms have seen their cash flow drop.
The latest unemployment figures showed more than 800,000 people lost their job in 2020, with the jobless rate increasing by 1.2 per cent to 4.9 per cent in the year to last November.
BCC director general Adam Marshall said: “The support schemes the government has introduced so far have saved many firms and jobs, but they have not gone far enough to help many survive a tough start to 2021.
“The drip-feed approach to business support measures has meant many firms simply cannot plan for the future.
“We are urging the government to urgently adopt a package of measures that covers the whole of 2021, and that takes away the cliff-edges firms face in a few weeks’ time when reliefs, forbearance and furlough are set to end. Many companies simply can’t wait until the March Budget.”
The latest lockdown pushed Rishi Sunak to extend the furlough scheme until the end of April, with the government paying 80 per cent of hours not worked.
A series of new cash grants have also been released by the Treasury, along with extensions to the VAT cut for hospitality and tourism businesses until the end of March.
The chancellor has spent £280bn during the Covid crisis, which has taken the deficit to record levels.