Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

Collective redundancyCoronavirusLatest NewsInformation & consultationFurlough

CBI: Confirm furlough extension or redundancies could be permanent

by Jo Faragher 15 Apr 2020
by Jo Faragher 15 Apr 2020 Carolyn Fairbairn, CBI director-general, warned that formal redundancy procedures would have to start soon
John Stillwell/PA Archive/PA Images
Carolyn Fairbairn, CBI director-general, warned that formal redundancy procedures would have to start soon
John Stillwell/PA Archive/PA Images

Companies could be forced into a position where they have to make people permanently redundant if the government doesn’t confirm any extension of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.

According to the CBI, if companies are to comply with the minimum 45-day consultation period required for redundancies of more than 100 employees, they will need to start those procedures this Saturday (18 April).

Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme

Annual leave and furlough under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme 

Webinar: Coronavirus – measures to protect your business

So far, the government has only confirmed that its furlough scheme will run for three months, up to 1 June. The scheme pays 80% of an employee’s monthly salary up to a cap of £2,500.

CBI director-general Carolyn Fairbairn told the BBC Today programme yesterday: “What we are saying to government is that firms need to be able to plan.

“These are massive decisions being taken on a day-to-day basis that affect people’s lives and livelihoods, and having that clarity of a 45-day notice period for business is absolutely vital.”

Employers making between 20 and 99 people redundant must also follow a collective consultation period, of at least 30 days.

The Treasury responded to say it had been taking “unprecedented action at unprecedented speed” to support employers.

A spokesperson said: “The scheme is open for an initial three months and we hope conditions will improve sufficiently during this period. However, the chancellor has been clear he will review extending it for longer if necessary.”

The CBI’s warnings come as the Office for Budget Responsibility claimed that UK gross domestic product could drop by more than a third in the second quarter of this year, and 13% for the whole of 2020.

The OBR also warned that unemployment could hit 10% by the end of June, equivalent to more than 2 million more people out of work.

Meanwhile a report from the UN’s labour body, the International Labour Organization, has suggested that business disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic could mean the equivalent of 195 million jobs are lost worldwide.

More than four-fifths of workers across the world live in countries operating under full or partial lockdown measures, it said.

Sign up to our weekly round-up of HR news and guidance

Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday

OptOut
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

The sectors hardest hit worldwide, according to the ILO, are accommodation and food services, manufacturing, retail and business services, and administrative activities.

Employee relations opportunities on Personnel Today

Browse more Employee Relations jobs

CBI
Jo Faragher

Jo Faragher has been an employment and business journalist for 20 years. She regularly contributes to Personnel Today and writes features for a number of national business and membership magazines. Jo is also the author of 'Good Work, Great Technology', published in 2022 by Clink Street Publishing, charting the relationship between effective workplace technology and productive and happy employees. She won the Willis Towers Watson HR journalist of the year award in 2015 and has been highly commended twice.

previous post
Mental health first aiders – creating a virtual ‘culture of care’ during the coronavirus crisis
next post
Only a third of graduates confident about securing role

You may also like

Restaurant tips should be included in holiday pay

21 May 2025

Fewer workers would comply with a return-to-office mandate

21 May 2025

Redefining leadership: From competence to inclusion

21 May 2025

Pay awards in real terms could fall for...

21 May 2025

Ryanair demands flight attendants pay back salary increase

21 May 2025

Consultation launched after Supreme Court ‘sex’ ruling

20 May 2025

Uncertainty over law hampering legal use of medical...

20 May 2025

Black security manager awarded £360k after decade of...

20 May 2025

Employers ‘worryingly’ ignorant about stress risk assessments

20 May 2025

UK and EU agree to collaborate on ‘youth...

19 May 2025

  • 2025 Employee Communications Report PROMOTED | HR and leadership...Read more
  • The Majority of Employees Have Their Eyes on Their Next Move PROMOTED | A staggering 65%...Read more
  • Prioritising performance management: Strategies for success (webinar) WEBINAR | In today’s fast-paced...Read more
  • Self-Leadership: The Key to Successful Organisations PROMOTED | Eletive is helping businesses...Read more
  • Retaining Female Talent: Four Ways to Reduce Workplace Drop Out PROMOTED | International Women’s Day...Read more

Personnel Today Jobs
 

Search Jobs

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
OHW+
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2025

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2025 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+