Home   News   Article

Highland MP issues reminder over furlough deadline


By Alan Hendry

Easier access to your trusted, local news. Subscribe to a digital package and support local news publishing.



Click here to sign up to our free newsletters!

Highland MP Drew Hendry is reminding businesses that the deadline to register employees for furlough is looming, with the scheme due to close for employee registration on June 10.

Under the current furlough arrangements, employers will permanently lose the chance to take advantage of the scheme if their employee is not registered for furlough by that date.

Mr Hendry, the SNP MP for Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey, is urging businesses to get their employees registered before the deadline.

The furlough scheme was set up during the Covid-19 crisis to protect 80 per cent of staff wages via UK government funding.

Last month Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced an extension to the furlough scheme until October 31 but, as things stand, employers must have employees registered by June 10 if they are to receive furlough pay.

Mr Hendry has written to the Chancellor to ask for the deadline to be extended, highlighting that businesses will need flexible support over the coming months.

“While the introduction of the flexible furlough from July 1 will help some businesses starting recovery, the fact that new employees would need to be registered by June 10 make this unworkable.

“The deadline for registering new employees also needs to be extended – if not, we will see yet another group of people shut out of support because of arbitrary red tape.

“The Chancellor needs to ensure the furlough scheme works for businesses, and I’ve urged him to review this deadline and his plans for a blanket approach to employer contributions.”


Do you want to respond to this article? If so, click here to submit your thoughts and they may be published in print.



This site uses cookies. By continuing to browse the site you are agreeing to our use of cookies - Learn More