Inverclyde Council will introduce a local pilot furlough scheme to support businesses and employees during the Covid-19 (Coronavirus) crisis.
The plan, which is expected to cost Inverclyde Council £125,000, will be used to pay 50% of furloughed employees salaries when the government's job retention scheme ends in October 2020. The government is currently paying 80% of employees wages, capped at £2,500.
Inverclyde Council's own version of the furlough scheme is part of a £1.5 million plan to address jobs, training, welfare, food and supporting the third sector in the local area.
Stephen McCabe, councillor at Inverclyde Council, said: "While we have appealed to the UK government to step back from the cliff edge of the furlough scheme in October 2020, there is still no signs that anything will change. We can try to support some jobs by piloting our own local scheme here in Inverclyde and we expect this to start in October."
"The furlough scheme and the full range of support for business right across the UK has been without comparison in our lifetime. The danger business have now is that they are coming to a cliff edge when the scheme ends in October.
"The Chancellor needs to take the ongoing pressure on business into account in tailoring business support and avoid our businesses going over a cliff edge when the UK-wide furlough scheme ends.”
