Lucy Cooper (Student)

Since the Corona Virus pandemic hit the UK significant changes have had to take place in the working environment. Many people have had to work from home or have had to stop working and be paid through the Furlough scheme. The Resolution Foundation said that recently there has been a large number of job losses with black and Asian and minority workers being significantly affected with one in five ethnic minority workers losing their jobs. 

It has been acknowledged in a recent YouGov survey that unemployment has been most common among workers in the black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds, 22% of BAME workers and 19% of young workers have become unemployed. These numbers are significantly higher than the average 9% of furloughed adults who are now no longer working. 

The furlough scheme has since been extended by the Government until the end of March and provides employees with 80% of their current salary, for hours which they have not worked up to a maximum of £2,500. Under the new scheme the cost to employers of retaining workers will be reduced compared to the scheme which was in place which caused thousands of ethnic minorities and young people to lose their jobs. 

In addition to this businesses which have been forced to close will receive grants worth up to £3,000 per month under the Local Restriction Support Grant, this should help businesses to keep hundreds of people in jobs so that they can keep the business afloat and, hopefully, keep people in employment. 

The Job Retention Scheme has been extended for a further month which means any employers small or large are eligible for the extended Job Retention Scheme, this means that business will have flexibility to bring furloughed employees back to work on a part time basis or furlough them full time, and they will only be asked to cover National Insurance and employer pension contributions, which accounts for just 5% of total employment costs.  

To be eligible employees must be on an employer’s PAYE payroll by 23:59 on 30th October 2020. This means a Real Time Information (RTI) submission notifying payment for that employee to HMRC must have been made on or before 30th October 2020. 

These new measures should help to keep people in employment however for those who have already lost their jobs and are struggling to find a new one the Government has suggested getting financial support through the New Style Jobseekers Allowance, Universal Credit and Pension Credit. 

If you need any advice on the issues which have been discussed above Staffordshire University Legal Advice Clinic (SULAC) offers free legal advice on employment related matters, if you wish to book an appointment with us please call 01782 294 800 or alternatively email on SULAC@staffs.ac.uk