Government’s scheme to save coronavirus-hit jobs will leave firms and workers without cash until June – The Sun

The Coronavirus Job Retention initiative announced by Chancellor Rishi Sunak was designed to stop jobs being axed.

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Staff are furloughed, which means they do not work yet get 80 per cent of their salary up to £2,500 a month from the Government.

But payouts are not expected until  June with payments backdated ­—  causing cashflow headaches for many.

Mum Nicola Martin, 36, and husband Scott, 37, of Wakefield, West Yorks, have both been furloughed.

Nicola said: “I’m panicking.

“We’ve had to cancel our council tax as we can’t afford it and we’ve taken a mortgage break.

“My partner’s been told he can’t be paid until the Government pays up.”

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The situation is worse for those who left their old job just before the lockdown and were due to start a new one — as the scheme requires people to be on the payroll on February 28.

Many new jobs are on hold — and former employers will not put ex-staff on the scheme.

Single mum Jodie Taylor, 35, from Rugeley, Staffs, said: “My last shift for my previous employer was in February and my new job started on March 3, but my old work has refused to rehire me to furlough me.”

BANK: NO CALLERS

A COUPLE who turned to their bank to stop their marketing firm going under say they were told not to bother ringing.

Helen, 45, and Richard Forsyth, 47, have spent the last week ill with coronavirus and  desperately trying to get through to Santander.

But mum Helen said the bank had “given me a brick wall to bang my head on”.

The bank put a message on its website saying it was “fully committed”  to supporting customers and would be announcing new measures to help them soon. But it also urged customers not to call them about it as details would be put on the website as soon as they were available.

Business secretary Alok Sharma has  blasted banks  for failing to support small firms.

The Sun on Sunday says

WE ALL have enough on our plates in this crisis without worrying about bureaucracy and red tape.

So it is unacceptable that tens of thousands of workers placed on furlough are facing hardship for months.

Yes, the Government plans to bail them out by paying 80 per cent of salaries but they may not get their hands on it until June — three months after the Chancellor Rishi Sunak unveiled his rescue package.

Many won’t have enough to pay basic bills until then.

Even companies that have stepped up to the plate by producing vital equipment such as ventilators could be punished for doing their bit.

Under tortuous tax rules, firms such as F1 and Dyson may be blocked from reclaiming VAT because they have switched from their normal products.

Meanwhile hospital bosses have astonishingly chosen the middle of the health crisis to axe an A&E unit in Lancashire.

If the nation is to continue pulling together, Boris and his Government must clearly be on the side of the people.

They must get to grips with the logjams, red tape and bloody-mindedness that could strangle this country’s recovery.

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