Furlough scheme extended until the end of June

*This news item has been superseded by a more recent announcement. Read the latest update here* 

The Government has extended its Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, which allows businesses to furlough employees, until the end of June at least. 

The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, which was announced in March, allows employers to put their employees on furlough, which means they are still employed but the Government finances 80% of their salaries up to £2,500 a month. 

The scheme is set to start applications from 20th April and was originally due to pay employees' wages until the end of May. However, the Chancellor Rishi Sunak said on 17th April that this will be extended as a result of the national lockdown being extended for a further three weeks.  

This now means that those who are furloughed will have Government support for their salary from 1st March until 30th June - and that will apply whether an employee has already been furloughed or is due to be in the coming weeks.  

When first unveiled, the furlough scheme stipulated that employees had to be on their employers PAYE payroll on 28th February 2020 to be eligible, but the Government has since extended that cut-off date until 19th March.  

Mr Sunak said: “With the extension of the coronavirus lockdown measures yesterday, it is the right decision to extend the furlough scheme for a month to the end of June to provide clarity. 

“It is vital for people’s livelihoods that the UK economy gets up and running again when it is safe to do so, and I will continue to review the scheme, so it is supporting our recovery.” 

The Treasury has stated that future decisions about the Job Retention Scheme “will take into account further developments on the wider measures to reduce the spread of coronavirus”, as well as the “responsible management” of public money, so the scheme could be altered or extended further.

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Date published 17 Apr 2020 | Last updated 25 Sep 2020