UKHospitality (UKH) has welcomed the extension of the Government’s Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme to the end of June 2020.
From today, companies can claim for 80% of its employee’s wages plus any employer National Insurance and pension contributions, if it has put them on furlough because of COVID-19.
Chief Executive Kate Nicholls said, “This extension itself is good news and will give us more breathing-room to help ensure employers are in a stronger position once they are in a position to reopen. The decision to keep the scheme under review could be absolutely critical for hospitality.
“It will allow us to continually make the watertight case that hospitality is a special case. Once the lockdown is lifted, social distancing measures are likely to remain in place. This will cause problems for the sector, which is all about socialising.
'Some businesses are not going to be able to immediately reopen and many more will not be able to reopen fully. With flexibility in the furlough scheme, it gives us a much better chance of keeping businesses alive and keeping our team members in jobs.'
Nicholls concluded, “UKHospitality pushed the Government hard for this, so it is good to see it taking notice of our concerns and the unique concerns of hospitality businesses.”