LONDON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 05th November, 2020) The UK government will extend until March of next year the so-called coronavirus job retention scheme, which has benefited millions of workers with salary subsidies since the COVID-19 pandemic struck, Finance Minister Rishi Sunak announced on Thursday.
"Extending furlough and increasing our support for the self-employed will protect millions of jobs and give people and businesses the certainty they need over what will be a difficult winter," Sunak told the parliament on the same day England entered another strict four-week COVID-19 lockdown.
The new five-month extension of the scheme will see workers whose workplaces are forced to close under the coronavirus restrictions receiving, at the government�s expenses, up to 80 percent of their current salary for hours not worked.
Sunak also announced that self-employed workers will receive a third grant, covering November to January, of up to �7,500 ($9,800), and that the guaranteed funding for the semiautonomous administrations of Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland will be raised by �2 billion ($2.6 billion) up to �16 billion ($20,9 billion).
