LETTERS – Unions have done a great job

Payments from the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) for workers who are on furlough will end on October 31.

To encourage employers to retain furloughed workers after this point the government has announced a Job Retention Bonus of £1,000 to employers for every eligible furloughed employee who remains continuously employed through to the end of January 2021.

Employees must earn above the Lower Earnings Limit (£520 per month) on average between the end of the CJRS and the end of January 2021 to be eligible.

The payments will be made from February 2021 and, unlike CJRS, do not have to be passed on to the worker.

In a separate initiative for young workers, the government’s Kickstart Scheme will offer six month paid work placements for those aged 16-24 who are on Universal Credit and are deemed to be at risk of long-term unemployment.

The funding will pay the National Minimum Wage for 25 hours a week, plus National Insurance contributions and minimum automatic enrolment pension contributions.

The TUC says this scheme offers young people real jobs with real prospects.
And it considers that the scheme could be more successful than Labour’s Future Jobs Fund, introduced in 2009 after the financial crisis and which resulted in a 27 per cent increase in the chances of those involved in getting a long-term job.

But while these schemes are welcomed, the TUC says they don’t go far enough. It says the bonus scheme is better than a ‘cliff edge’ but will not be enough for the hardest hit businesses.

Nor will it help those who are shielding or whose caring responsibilities prevent them returning to the workplace.

The TUC has called for a new right to retrain for everybody, backed up by funding and personal lifelong learning accounts. It also says this needs to go hand in hand with an overhaul of the social security system which would create a real safety net for workers.

Unions have done a great job in negotiating the CJRS for millions of workers throughout the COVID-19 crisis with government ministers. Without continued meaningful negotiations, job loss announcements will be piling up as we go into the year end.

Rodney Sadd
South Holland & The Deepings CLP