Nearly 10 million workers around the UK still on furlough due to the pandemic face a worrying Halloween, when the scheme ends.
For nearly six months now, workers unable to carry out their usual duties because of the pandemic have received 80% of their wages, initially through government support and later with employers also chipping in.
But some people who are still unable to return to work by November 1 will be able to benefit from a new scheme, announced by Chancellor Rishi Sunak today.
Introducing it, Mr Sunak warned that not everybody who benefited from the furlough scheme would be able to take advantage of its replacement.
He said: "The furlough was the right policy at the time we introduced it.
"It provided immediate, short-term protection for millions of jobs through a period of acute crisis.
"But as the economy reopens it is fundamentally wrong to hold people in jobs that only exist inside the furlough."
So who is able to take advantage of the new scheme, how does it work, and what can you expect to get paid?
Who is eligible for the Jobs Support Scheme?
Mr Sunak said: "We need to create new opportunities and allow the economy to move forward and that means supporting people to be in viable jobs which provide genuine security."
In other words, as it looks like we'll be living with Covid-19 for a while, the government doesn't think every business affected by lockdown restrictions is likely to be able to recover in time (and some would have failed anyway).
While at the start of the pandemic, the government bankrolled the furlough scheme, this time your employer also has to give you work on at least a part-time basis, and, alongside the government, top up your pay. And not all employers are eligible - only small and medium-sized businesses, and big ones that are really struggling.
It's up to your boss to decide whether they would be better to make you redundant now, or find a way to give you some work, and invest in keeping you with them for when the economy recovers.
Each situation will be different, but if you're already working and you have specialist skills that means your boss would struggle to replace you, you're likely to be in a better position.
If you're self-employed, you will continue to be able to apply for a grant until April 2021.
How does the Jobs Support Scheme work?
Like the furlough scheme, the Jobs Support Scheme gives you an income even if you can't work, with the money contributed by both the government and the employer, with the government's contribution capped at £697.92 a month. You will continue to get paid this money the way you get usual wages.
But, unlike the furlough scheme, you must be working at least 33% of your usual hours to be able to get this support.
So if you were working 40 hours a week before lockdown, you would need to work at least 13 hours a week to qualify.
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How much will you get paid under the Jobs Support Scheme?
You are guaranteed to receive in total at least 77% of your normal wages, or as close to that before the government's contribution is capped.
So if you were working 40 hours a week at the minimum wage of £8.72 before lockdown, you would have been earning £348.80 a week before tax.
Under the Jobs Support Scheme, even if you worked the minimum of 13 hours, you would get £268.58 a week before tax.
You won't see much difference from the furlough scheme in terms of the money coming into your bank account, but you will have to go to work to qualify for it.
How long does the Jobs Support Scheme last?
The Chancellor said the Jobs Support Scheme will last for six months, i.e. until May 2021.
By then, we may have a much better picture of whether coronavirus is going to affect our lives in a more permanent way.
In his speech, Mr Sunak warned: "It is now clear, as the Prime Minister and our scientific advisers have said for at least the next six months the virus and restrictions are going to be a fact of our lives.
"Our economy is now likely to undergo a more permanent adjustment.
The sources of our economic growth and the kinds of jobs we create, will adapt and evolve to the new normal."
