Government announces one-month extension to the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, to the end of June 2020

With the coronavirus lockdown measures being kept in place for a further period, it's the right decision to extend the furlough scheme to provide clarity, says Chancellor

The government has announced a one-month extension to the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.

When details of the Scheme were first announced by the Chancellor Rishi Sunak on 20 March 2020, the government said that it would initially be open for three months, with payments in respect of furloughed workers backdated to 1 March 2020.

However, having also said that the Scheme would be 'extended if necessary', and following yesterday's announcement that the 'lockdown' and social distancing measures are to be kept in place for a further period, the Chancellor confirmed today that it will now be open until the end of June 2020 - 

'We’ve taken unprecedented action to support jobs and businesses through this period of uncertainty, including the UK-wide Job Retention Scheme. 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.'

NB - the government says that future decisions on the Scheme will take into account further developments on the wider measures to reduce the spread of COVID-19, as well as the responsible management of the public finances.

For more information, see Chancellor extends furlough scheme to end of June from gov.uk