People need security and opportunity, John. Yesterday, the Chancellor failed to convince us that the government has a plan to deliver either. Although there is much in yesterday's statement that Labour does support, the fact is that yesterday's intervention comes too late for those who have already lost their jobs as many large firms' deadlines for redundancy consultations were last week. In total, Labour has called for a system of targeted wage support forty times, but the government had previously ruled it out twenty times. While the Chancellor's eleventh-hour U-turn on his furlough cliff edge is welcome, there are concerns that under the scheme, it may be cheaper for some companies to bring back one member of staff full-time and fire another, rather than bring both workers back part-time. That's why in her speech on Monday, Anneliese Dodds set out Labour’s proposal for a Job Recovery Scheme which would address that specific principle, “The scheme would incentivise
targeted businesses to bring back more workers part-time, instead of bringing some back full time and letting others go.” Labour's proposal goes further than the government’s new scheme by including a training component, more conditionality and targeting. Labour is calling for: A Job Recovery Scheme which gives businesses and workers much needed certainty by enabling businesses in key sectors to allow staff to work reduced hours, with government subsidising a proportion of wages for the rest of
the week. A nationwide Retraining Strategy for the unemployed and those facing unemployment to help those whose hours have been cut to increase their skills or to retrain, and enable people who have lost their jobs to transition into new work. And a Business Rebuilding Programme to give businesses the certainty they crave and so we don’t end up once again with last-minute panicked schemes that waste public money. |
