Senior Scottish Government ministers are worried changes to the UK wage protection scheme will penalise workers if lockdown eases at a different pace north and south of the border.
The Job Retention Scheme, known as furlough, was set up by the UK Government to protect up to 80% of pay while businesses were forced to shut their doors.
UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak is already considering cutting it back to 60% and Prime Minister Boris Johnson has signalled he’s willing to reopen parts of the economy quicker in England.
The growing gap between London and Edinburgh is causing tension and raising fears about the future of vital emergency support from Westminster.
The Chancellor was asked for assurances workers will continue to access support if Scottish firms are not reopened at the same time.
In a letter, Scottish finance secretary Kate Forbes and economy secretary Fiona Hyslop described the emergency jobs retention scheme as an “essential lifeline for employers and employees”.
They added: “We understand that the support will need to be scaled back over time, but it is imperative that is done in a carefully considered way, and reflects the economic priorities of each of the four nations and the different sectors of our economies.
“The ability to stagger the closure of the scheme may be beneficial in considering how we safely exit the restrictions currently in place.”
They also asked for guarantees support will be in place if workers are forced into isolation during the later “test, race, isolate” phase of restrictions during the pandemic.
The concern follows wider fears that cutting furlough so soon will force households deep into debt.
We revealed yesterday how Scottish debt charities are being swamped with calls on furlough.
Thousands of Scots are also still falling victim to a loophole in the scheme because they switched jobs just at the February cut-off for employer support.
A Treasury spokesman, responding to the letter, said: “The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme is an absolutely crucial element of our financial support in protecting jobs and businesses through this crisis and has already supported millions of workers across the UK.
“Future decisions around the scheme will take into account the wider context of any lockdown extension, including decisions taken by the devolved administrations, as well as the public health response, so that people and businesses can get back to work when it is safe to do so.”
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