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GCA shows the power of cards during lock-down with emotional film

27 May 2020

Award winning artists, and Greeting Card Association (GCA) members, Lanther Black, have written and produced a film for the GCA illustratingthe joy of receiving a card
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Non-essential retailers to reopen as early as 15 June, government says

26 May 2020

Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced in yesterday's conference that non-essential retailers will be able to reopen stores in England from June 15 as long as social distancing measures are... Read more…

IRC launches ‘We are open' online directory to promote small shops and business still open

14 May 2020

Open shops and small businesses are urged to add themselves to the new ‘We are open' interactive map
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FCA seeks legal judgement to clarify whether insurers should pay CV-19 claims made by firms

14 May 2020

More than a million businesses forced to close during the coronavirus lockdown may know whether insurers will have to pay previously rejected business interruption claims in a matter of... Read more…

Free ActSmart subscription to help businesses through Covid-19

14 May 2020

ActSmart are offering three months of FREE access to to a range of services and support with the ActSmart bronze subscription in return for a small charitable donation
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250 free-of-charge digital Out of Home campaigns offered to local businesses

13 May 2020

Free Out of Home campaigns will help local entrepreneurs across the UK to highlight how they've adapted to continue trading in the current circumstances.
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Working safely during COVID-19 in shops and branches

13 May 2020

A summary of the specific guidance for shops on working safely
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How consumer behaviour has changed among the British public in the face of COVID-19

10 May 2020

Recent research undertaken by the Institute of Customer Service displays evidence that the British public now place higher value on customer service that they did before COVID-19
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Government will deliver a "tapered" end to furlough scheme

5 May 2020

Chancellor Rishi Sunak has promised there will be no "cliff-edge" cut-off to the government's job retention scheme to support workers through the coronavirus pandemic.
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Coronavirus Testing available for shop workers

30 Apr 2020

The Government has extended COVID-19 testing to essential workers with symptoms and people who live with essential workers and have symptoms. This includes anyone with symptoms whose work cannot... Read more…

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Government will deliver a "tapered" end to furlough scheme

Posted on in Business News, Cycles News, Political News

Chancellor Rishi Sunak has promised there will be no "cliff-edge" cut-off to the government's job retention scheme to support workers through the coronavirus pandemic. MPs have been looking at ways to wind down the scheme & ease people back into work in a "measured way".

The latest government figures showed that 6.3 million workers were having 80% of their salaries, up to a maximum of £2500 per month, paid by the Treasury at a cost of £8 billion to the taxpayer.

Speaking to ITV News, the Chancellor acknowledged such a level of expenditure was not "sustainable" in the longer term. He went on to say:

"To anyone anxious about this, I want to reassure that there will be no cliff-edge to the furlough scheme. I'm working as we speak to figure out the most effective way to wind down the scheme and ease people back into work in a measured way.

"As some scenarios have suggested, we are potentially spending as much on the furlough scheme as we do on the NHS for example.

"Clearly that is not a sustainable situation which is why, as soon as the time is right, we want to get people back to work and the economy fired up again."

The news comes after the Liberal Democrats called for a "tapered" end to the programme, which consists of the Treasury paying 50% of salaries for the first month after people return to work, falling to 30 per cent after the third month before employers pick up the full bill after the fourth.

Acting Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey said "The government furlough scheme has done a good job at helping thousands of businesses through the lockdown, but the shadow of lockdown will be long, and the ‘new normal' will be extremely challenging,"

"Businesses and their staff need time to plan, and confidence the government will be there, ready to support."

Torsten Bell, chief executive of the Resolution Foundation think tank which proposed the job retention scheme, said that despite the high cost to the taxpayer, it was a price worth paying.

"The 6.3 million jobs being furloughed shows in stark terms the scale of the economic shutdown that Britain is living through," he said.

"If this kind of volume of workers stay on the scheme for several months, the cost will run into the tens of billions of pounds. And that is a cost very much worth paying.

"Even despite mass furloughing, unemployment is still soaring, with over two million new claims for benefits coming though.

"This should remind us how badly needed the retention scheme is, but also that we are likely to be living with the legacy of high unemployment that coronavirus has given Britain, long after it has been phased out."

 

 

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