The Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, has announced an important update to the Job Support Scheme (JSS) which is due to replace the furlough scheme on 1 November. This does not impact on the scheme introduced for businesses forced to close by law.

The new measures, aimed to assist (but not thought to be restricted to) open businesses in Tier 2 zones, are as follows:

• Workers will now only need to work 20% of their usual hours, rather than the previous 33%. This means employees working just one day a week (out of a usual 5) will become eligible;
• Required Employer contributions for the hours not worked have dropped from 33% of a workers’ usual wage to just 5%;
• The government will now fund 62% of the wages for hours not worked, which more than doubles the monthly cap to £1,541.75.

You can find our previous update on the JSS here. Further specific details on the scheme are still awaited.