Coronavirus in the UK - news, lockdown and discussion

[ska invita]

I wonder if the terms of the furlough extension being more generous than expected has anything to do with the public reaction to the clusterfuck of the last 48 hours or so?

I see a slight of hand here. If the government pays 60% and the employer makes up the rest, that' basically a drop to 60% of state money as originally advertised isn't it?

ETA: will businesses be forced to pay a minimum 20% shortfall in order for the furlough money to be claimed?

 

[Raheem]

I see a slight of hand here. If the government pays 60% and the employer makes up the rest, thats a drop to 60% as originally advertised isnt it?

The government is going to carry on paying 80% until August, then make an unspecified cut. The original plan seems to have been to make the cut to 60% on 1st June.

 

[ska invita]

The government is going to carry on paying 80% until August, then make an unspecified cut. The original plan seems to have been to make the cut on 1st June.

ah okay, so extended by a month then, thanks

 

[Raheem]

ah okay, so extended by a month then, thanks

Two months.

 

[Buddy Bradley]

Not coronavirus related, but it must be so weird for someone of Hancock's generation (and mine) to be interviewed by Phillip Schofield, after growing up watching him on kids TV.

 

[cupid_stunt]

The government is going to carry on paying 80% until August, then make an unspecified cut. The original plan seems to have been to make the cut to 60% on 1st June.

No, it had already been extended to the end of June, before today's further announcement.

 

[ska invita]

Two months.

original furlough was earmarked till end of June i think...certainly what i was told at my job.

 

[maomao]

Anyone know if there's any extension to contributions based JSA planned or if that will just expire after six months as normal?

 

[Raheem]

original furlough was earmarked till end of June i think...certainly what i was told at my job.

Yes, it was for four months, until the end of June, but I think what had been briefed to the press was a cut to 60% from 1st June.

The whole 'people should be encouraged to get back to work' thing seems to me to have been more-or-less entirely about paving the way for that announcement. But now it isn't happening.

 

[keybored]

I would dearly love to see his reasoning behind this.

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

The government is going to carry on paying 80% until August, then make an unspecified cut. The original plan seems to have been to make the cut to 60% on 1st June.

I am reading it as 80% extended to October, so four months. With the chance to part time furlough people at some point.

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

I would dearly love to see his reasoning behind this.

The same as everything else, "making up bollocks on the hoof"

 

[Raheem]

I am reading it as 80% extended to October, so four months. With the chance to part time furlough people at some point.

It is being spun as an opportunity to work part-time, but it's really a cut to the amount the government will pay, planned for August.

 

[keybored]

The same as everything else, "making up bollocks on the hoof"

He'd go into a 2 minute monologue repeating stuff about "R" over and over. They're all beginning to sound like demented pirates.

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

It is being spun as an opportunity to work part-time, but it's really a cut to the amount the government will pay, planned for August.

80% will be staying until the end of October for all who need it.

The part time furlough would be if you take someone back to work for 50% of their normal hours, cos there's far less work for them to do than is normal, you get 50% of the furlough dough from govt.

This works well for me; guy I work with I have furloughed him, I am making up the extra 20% so he's not losing out at all. As we are a travel agency and no one is booking anything I can now keep him furloughed until the end of October. More than that though, I can't furlough myself as I need to administer the furlough and I still have a few other admin tasks and under furlough you can do nothing at all, except as a director perform statutory duties (file a return). So I will now be able to part time furlough myself and get a % of my salary back, whereas currently I am paying 100% of my salary.

 

[little_legs]

The same as everything else, "making up bollocks on the hoof"

Aye.

Piers Morgan and Phillip Schofield providing more effective opposition than Labour. What a time to be alive.

 

[Orang Utan]

Aye.

Piers Morgan and Phillip Schofield providing more effective opposition than Labour. What a time to be alive.

What a time to be dead

 

[little_legs]

Some polls are showing that the eugenicist party is losing public support esp since that dreaded Sunday speech. Explains the furlough extension then.

 

[killer b]

80% will be staying until the end of October for all who need it.

The part time furlough would be if you take someone back to work for 50% of their normal hours, cos there's far less work for them to do than is normal, you get 50% of the furlough dough from govt.

This works well for me; guy I work with I have furloughed him, I am making up the extra 20% so he's not losing out at all. As we are a travel agency and no one is booking anything I can now keep him furloughed until the end of October. More than that though, I can't furlough myself as I need to administer the furlough and I still have a few other admin tasks and under furlough you can do nothing at all, except as a director perform statutory duties (file a return). So I will now be able to part time furlough myself and get a % of my salary back, whereas currently I am paying 100% of my salary.

he's pretty specific that there will be an employer contribution from the start of August.

1/ The job retention scheme will be extended, for four months, until the end of October. By that point, we will have provided eight months of support to British people and businesses. Until the end of July, there will be no changes to the scheme whatsoever.

2/ From August to October the scheme will continue, for all sectors and regions of the UK, but with greater flexibility to support the transition back to work. Employers currently using the scheme will be able to bring furloughed employees back part-time.

3/ We will ask employers to start sharing, with the government, the costs of paying people’s salaries.

3/ isn't just for 2/. it would be much more clear if it was.

 

[gosub]

BofE is financing it by printing money, the gov can decide how much and for how long they want to pay it back, if at all. They are not borrowing from the international markets.

Yes they are. Gilt auctions have still been happening. And we have had a credit rating downgrade from Fitch to AA-. (Credit Rating is important as below a certain threshold institutional buyers such as pensions can't hold investment)

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

he's pretty specific that there will be an employer contribution from the start of August.

1/ The job retention scheme will be extended, for four months, until the end of October. By that point, we will have provided eight months of support to British people and businesses. Until the end of July, there will be no changes to the scheme whatsoever.

2/ From August to October the scheme will continue, for all sectors and regions of the UK, but with greater flexibility to support the transition back to work. Employers currently using the scheme will be able to bring furloughed employees back part-time.

3/ We will ask employers to start sharing, with the government, the costs of paying people’s salaries.

3/ isn't just for 2/. it would be much more clear if it was.

Yeah but no details on that until the end of May. So likely not happen as the backlash would be too much.

 

[LDC]

I would dearly love to see his reasoning behind this.

Tbh it makes sense to me. The line had to be put somewhere with this initial slight easing, and it's easier to make that line meeting up with one person than anything else.

Meeting up with one person makes it easy to social distance with them. Meeting up and hanging out with 2 (especially if walking about) makes keeping that distance from them both very difficult, as you're moving in reaction to 2 other people which is less predictable and more likely to result in <2m contact. And yeah it might seem bonkers that it's just one parent at a time, but what if your parents live in different houses, or you have some other situation that isn't just both parents living in the same house? And what about step-parents, do they count? How can you put all those situations in the guidelines without it being really complicated?

And if you're meeting both parents at the same time then why not two other people, and if two, why not three, etc? If loads of people meet up with 2 others then the social space they take up increases massively and then so does the risk, not to mention the fact that things would very quickly seem 'normal' and with that comes increased risk of people letting their caution slacken.

I think this is a really complex situation and it's basically impossible to create guidelines for all possibilities and if you search for things there's always going to be things that might seem totally illogical and annoying, that's the nature of trying to create rules for the complexities of social human interaction.

Plenty of things to criticize them on, 50,000+ dead, PPE, etc etc. "Why can't I meet up with both my parents at the same time, that seems ridiculous." is kinda not worthy of the airtime tbh.

 

[ruffneck23]

A large amount of people who aren't working (like myself) are not working because there's no work to do. I can do my job from home but if there was no furlough I probably would have been made redundant.

same as and I'm expecting to be made redundant soon.

 

[Wilf]

Edit: ah, fuck it, thread's moved on.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

Plenty of things to criticize them on, 50,000+ dead, PPE, etc etc. "Why can't I meet up with both my parents at the same time, that seems ridiculous." is kinda not worthy of the airtime tbh.

The cynic might suspect that they're being deliberately obtuse about this point to avoid answering those other questions.

 

[Doodler]

There must be a lot of empty hotel rooms right now. Something useful could be done with them, like offering them free of charge to people needing to self-isolate away from their families.

 

[weepiper]

There must be a lot of empty hotel rooms right now. Something useful could be done with them, like offering them free of charge to people needing to self-isolate away from their families.

Edinburgh is using some of them to house rough sleepers. Edit, Glasgow too

Edinburgh hotel provides rooms to 44 homeless people to keep them safe

Thanks to a massive effort and £300k from the Scots Government, Edinburgh's most vulnerable people have somewhere safe to stay

www.google.com

 

[Cid]

Edinburgh is using some of them to house rough sleepers. Edit, Glasgow too

Edinburgh hotel provides rooms to 44 homeless people to keep them safe

Thanks to a massive effort and £300k from the Scots Government, Edinburgh's most vulnerable people have somewhere safe to stay

www.google.com

Same for a lot of England (and I imagine rest of uk) to be fair. I’ve even read that this crazy policy of putting people in safe, comfortable environments and giving them regular meals and access to washing facilities is - shockingly- helping them in other ways.

 

[IC3D]

The cynic might suspect that they're being deliberately obtuse about this point to avoid answering those other questions.

The danger equates to the amount of covid in your area and without contact tracing they don't know how risky it is.

 

[cupid_stunt]

Edinburgh is using some of them to house rough sleepers. Edit, Glasgow too

Edinburgh hotel provides rooms to 44 homeless people to keep them safe

Thanks to a massive effort and £300k from the Scots Government, Edinburgh's most vulnerable people have somewhere safe to stay

www.google.com

Same in Worthing, a posh one on the seafront too.