Furlough Scheme Extended

Finance Minister Conor Murphy has welcomed the extension of the Furlough Scheme and has called for Treasury to extend it beyond November.

The Furlough Scheme was due to end on 31 October and to be replaced with the Job Support Scheme (JSS) from 01 November.

As he announced a new four-week lockdown for England, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson also announced that the furlough scheme was being extended until December.

Responding to the announcement, Conor Murphy said: "For months I have pressed for the extension of the Furlough Scheme so that jobs can be protected. I therefore welcome this one month extension and the inclusion of employees on the payroll on or before 30 October as well as employees who haven't previously been furloughed as this has been a gap to date.

"Many businesses have been faced with tough decisions about redundancies which has not been helped by the lateness of this decision by Treasury. It remains unclear whether the Furlough Scheme will be extended beyond the end of November, and I will be pressing for this. The weeks and months ahead will continue to be very challenging – businesses and workers need certainty that the support offered by the Furlough Scheme will remain in place.

"The Executive is doing everything in its power to support the economy and Treasury must do the same by providing certainty at the earliest possible opportunity."

(MH)