Rishi Sunak appears to be taking a continental approach to the Job Support Scheme, requiring an employee to work 33% of their hours (minimum), with the employer and Government sharing the pay for remaining hours not worked a third each, at a capped amount, says Robert Pullen.
Whilst this is of course good news, here are the three areas Rishi has missed out on:
- Supporting the thousands of business owners who operate through a company and draw dividends – they largely missed out in the first round of support and remain side-lined now.
- Setting out a longer-term vision. What will happen in six months? Is the Government committed to support jobs and businesses well into next year? Rishi should have committed to stopping the U-turns and instead provide an environment that will enable businesses and individuals to plan not just for the next six months, but for the next two years.
- Although the VAT ‘lump sum’ payment in March has been recognised as being a massive hurdle (and rightly it is now being spread out), no thought has been given to individuals who face a similar problem in January when both their delayed payment on account from July 2020, the balance due for the 2019/20 tax year, plus the first payment on account towards 2020/21 will be due at the same time. A pay-monthly option should be available for those individuals affected
We hope these issues can be addressed as soon as possible.