LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s government will soon stop new workers joining the 8 million who have already been put on temporary publicly funded leave by their employers, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday.
Finance minister Rishi Sunak is due to announce later this week how much employers will need to contribute to the furlough scheme from August, and is also expected to set new rules on part-time working, which is currently not allowed.
To avoid employers furloughing extra staff and bringing them back part-time, with a government-subsidised wage, the finance ministry is likely to announce that scheme will stop accepting more people, the FT said, citing “allies of the chancellor”.
Currently the British government pays 80% of the salary, up to 2,500 pounds ($3,083) a month, of almost any private-sector employee who is put on temporary leave due to the coronavirus.
(Reporting by David Milliken; editing by Stephen Addison)
