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+

CoronavirusLatest NewsRetailJob creation and lossesFurlough

Labour calls for ‘smarter’ furlough for as long as needed

by Ashleigh Webber 5 Feb 2021
by Ashleigh Webber 5 Feb 2021 Labour's Anneliese Dodds
Mark Thomas / Alamy Stock Photo
Labour's Anneliese Dodds
Mark Thomas / Alamy Stock Photo

The furlough scheme should not be time-limited and should remain in place to protect jobs as long as Covid-19 restrictions on business are needed, Labour has said.

Anneliese Dodds, the party’s shadow chancellor, will call on Rishi Sunak to introduce a “smart” extension of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, which includes provisions for training and tough conditions to prevent abuse.

Job support

Furlough extension: practical implications for HR

Job-finding support launched as furlough extension calls grow

Rishi Sunak considers fifth furlough extension

He should not wait until his Budget on 3 March to announce an extension of the furlough scheme and other business support measures, and the chancellor should “not repeat the mistakes of last year” by winding down support while restrictions still exist and demand in some sectors remains low.

The Kickstart scheme, which Labour said is “failing”, should be overhauled, while more green jobs should be created by reforming the oversubscribed Green Homes Grant, which provides homeowners with funds that can be used towards the cost of installing energy efficiency improvements.

“Rishi Sunak’s Plan for Jobs has been a disaster. Seven months after its launch, we’ve got record redundancies, soaring unemployment and the worst economic crisis of any major economy,” said Dodds.

“We need urgent action to secure, recover and create jobs. This must include a smarter furlough scheme, an overhaul of the failing Kickstart youth programme, and reform of the shambolic Green Homes Grant as part of wider action to ‘Build it in Britain’ and support the creation of 400,000 clean, new jobs.

“People can’t afford to wait for the chancellor to get his act together. They need emergency action today, not more dither and delay until the Budget.”

Sunak has come under significant pressure to bolster support for employers and fix gaps that are shutting millions of workers out of schemes.

The British Chambers of Commerce wants to see the furlough scheme extended until July, while the TUC wants it to remain in place until the end of this year. The CIPD and CBI are also lobbying the government for an extension.

The furlough scheme is currently set to expire on 30 April 2021.

Meanwhile, Waterstones has told its employees that those on furlough will not receive any increase to their wages until shops can reopen.

In response to a petition signed by more than 2,000 people, which urged the bookstore chain to help staff who had seen their wages dip below the national minimum wage, it told staff that furlough had prevented mass redundancies and that a 2.75% pay rise is planned for when the majority of its shops can operate.

Chief operations officer Kate Skipper said in an email to staff: “I realise this is an unbelievably tough and desperate time for so many people but to continue to protect the business, and thereby importantly to deliver our aim to pay more, we need to survive – and ultimately to prosper. Please consider how best that can be achieved.”

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 petition says that Waterstones employees face “misery” and financial insecurity and said the business “should look to set an example” to other UK businesses.

HR business partner opportunities on Personnel Today

Browse more HR business partner jobs

Ashleigh Webber

Ashleigh is a former editor of OHW+ and former HR and wellbeing editor at Personnel Today. Ashleigh's areas of interest include employee health and wellbeing, equality and inclusion and skills development. She has hosted many webinars for Personnel Today, on topics including employee retention, financial wellbeing and menopause support.

previous post
Employment lawyers: ‘tribunals effective and judges top of their game’
next post
Could 2021 be the year occupational health seizes its moment?

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+