The UK is experiencing a jobs crisis. Mass redundancies are being announced with grim
regularity, and I fear we will see more unless the government urgently changes course.
The furlough scheme, a lifeline during the coronavirus crisis for many, is now being withdrawn from all businesses, whatever their circumstance.
That blanket approach completely ignores that some sectors and regions have been much harder hit than others.
Since August, employers have been required to pay for the pension and national insurance contributions of their furloughed staff. And in just three days, from September 1, employers across the country will also be required to pay 10% of the salary of their furloughed employees.
That rule applies to all businesses across the board. Whether your business is trading well, whether it’s slowly recovering but still struggling, or whether it cannot operate properly or at all due to local lockdown restrictions, the furlough lifeline is being pulled away, come what may.
It’s clearly illogical and unfair to treat every business in this uniform way.
* What do you think? Do you agree? Have your say in the comments below
Hospitality, retail and key manufacturing industries have been particularly hard hit by job losses, with thousands already announced and more predicted by trade bodies.
Some businesses, such as night clubs, are still totally locked down.
They are rightly following the public-health measures and are therefore unable to bring in any income, yet are being asked to pay if they want to protect their employees’ jobs.
The government is also failing to recognise that its approach could mean making this country more unequal with parts of the UK still under local lockdowns, and some areas of the UK having more of the businesses that have been worst affected by the crisis.
It would be far better to be targeting those sectors that really need the help than offering £1,000 to every business next February for every worker they take back off furlough.
That policy means an awful lot of money is being spent on workers who would have been rehired anyway in sectors that are recovering after lockdown.
Germany and France have schemes in place enabling workers to be put on part-time working and have the rest of their wage subsidised. Extended support, targeted at key sectors, could work in a similar way.
The government has said they cannot save every job, but in taking this rigid approach, they are washing their hands of every livelihood still under threat.
Plan to care
There’s been a 44% rise in the number of children needing foster care during this pandemic, and Labour has called for a proper plan from government to ensure children moving into the care system can access the support they need.
On this week’s episode of my podcast Reasons to be Cheerful, we talk with the poet and writer Lemn Sissay about My Name is Why – his powerful memoir about growing up in the care system.
Lemn talks about his 30-year battle to access his records and why it was so important to tell his story.
Zombie horror
Boris Johnson this week blamed the A-level exam fiasco on a “mutant algorithm”.
It does make you wonder whether this government will ever take responsibility for anything.
He’d previously said the results system was “robust” as did Education Secretary
Gavin Williamson.
Distress was caused to so many young people, and the government can’t even say the buck stops with them.
It feels much more a case of a zombie government than a mutant algorithm to me.
Grants clawback will hit jobs
High streets across the country have been hit hard by this pandemic. We’ve seen waves of job losses from household names like M&S, WH Smith, Pizza Express, John Lewis and Boots.
And while retail sales overall are rebounding, sales at department stores and clothing shops are still down on pre-pandemic levels.
More than a billion remains unused of the Government’s business grants funds, with many thousands of firms having been locked out of support. But the Business Secretary wants local councils to return that money by the end of the month.
That can’t be right when so many firms are still struggling.
Labour has called for that underspend to be turned into a Hospitality and High Streets Fightback Fund, with restrictions eased so more businesses can access the funding they need.
Clawing that money back rather than redeploying it flexibly means ministers risk accelerating the jobs crisis. We must do everything we can to protect our country’s vital city centres and prevent shuttered high streets.
Time to invest in going green
Climate change is a massive long-term threat to the country. To tackle the threat means we will need to change the way we power our homes, move around our towns and cities, and use our land.
This may sound daunting and it is, but there is also a chance to ensure that in tackling that threat we can create a better economy and quality of life for people. That’s what I am determined we do as a country.
Think of all the jobs that need doing, from insulating homes to building the zero carbon engines of the future to planting trees and creating green spaces that we can all enjoy.
Britain can have a bright manufacturing future if we take a lead in the environmentally friendly jobs of the future. It makes environmental and economic sense.
At a time when we are facing an unemployment emergency, this is the moment to power forward with action to create those jobs we badly need.
It’s what we have seen in other countries. Germany has already announced €40bn worth of plans,
with France likely also to invest a significant amount.
So far, the Government’s warm words on the need for a green recovery have not been matched by their deeds. The £3bn of green investment announced pales in comparison.
We owe it to ourselves to build back better, and we owe it to future generations to tackle the climate emergency.
That’s why Labour has been talking to businesses, unions, workers, campaign groups and the public about ideas to kickstart a recovery that builds an environmentally sustainable economy with a zero carbon army of workers.
We need a Green Recovery worthy of the name.
Campaign aims to protect us all
Labour’s Jobs, Jobs, Jobs campaign aims to fight for jobs, keep workers safe and back businesses.
Fight for jobs: by reforming the furlough scheme so it supports those in the worst-hit sectors and targets aid to struggling industries.
Back our businesses: by setting up a fightback fund to prevent firms going under and save our high streets.
Leave no one behind: by providing additional support to areas forced
into local lockdowns, supporting the self-employed and helping those left out of existing schemes.
Keep workers safe: by protecting workers’ rights, boosting sick pay, making workplaces safe and giving our NHS and care services the resources to avoid a second wave.
Drive job creation: by investing in infrastructure, accelerating progress towards a zero-carbon economy and increasing access to skills and training opportunities.
* What do you think? write to yourview@mirror.co.uk
