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Right - economic support package is: 1) full furlough at 80% of previous wages 2) widest possible eligibility = all sectors and all workers (ie you didn’t need to be employed back in March or to have been furloughed before) 3) firms just pay national insurance/pension 4) UK wide
This is returning to the Job Retention Scheme as it existed in August - absolutely identical
Business grants go to all the closed sectors exactly as if they were in tier 3. Closed includes those doing delivery/take away. Devolved administrations get cash equivalents to spend as they choose
Broadly this is a return to much more maximalist approach to economic support like we say early in the pandemic ie they haven’t tried to restrict furlough support just to closed sectors
Our take: the big picture is that this autumn has seen a slow pace of decision taking on health restrictions, but now that we have got to a national lockdown it’s very welcome that the economic support has been ramped back up very significantly indeed.
But none of us should convince ourselves that this will avoid real hardship. Unemployment is rising - and those losing their jobs are not being able to find new work at anything like previous rates. So Universal Credit is crucial - it mustn’t be cut by £1k in April
