THE coronavirus furlough scheme will be extended to the end of April, the Chancellor announced today, less than 24 hours before bosses were expected to decide on possible redundancies.

The scheme had been due to expire in March, but Rishi Sunak said that the government will continue for an additional month to pay 80 per cent of the salaries of employees for hours that they are unable to work.

Employers will only be required to pay wages, national insurance contributions (NICS) and pensions for hours worked; and NICS and pensions for hours not worked.

He also extended several government business loan schemes for two more months until the end of March.

The next Budget announcement will be on March 3, Mr Sunak said.

His Labour counterpart Anneliese Dodds welcomed the extensions, but criticised him for again announcing job retention plans when time was about to run out.

“Once again, the Chancellor has waited until the last possible minute to act, leaving businesses in the dark with less than 24 hours before they have to issue redundancy notices,” she said.

“Rishi Sunak’s irresponsible, last-minute decision-making has left the UK with the worst recession of any major economy.” 

Before his announcement, shadow chancellor Ms Dodds warned that if Mr Sunak had failed to set out a plan on jobs today or tomorrow, he would have left nearly four million workers in limbo over Christmas.

September and October also saw the Chancellor repeatedly chop and change his plans to replace the furlough scheme before his previous 11th-hour decision to extend it until March 2021.  

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported earlier this week that redundancies had soared to a record 370,000 during the three months when Mr Sunak was pushing ahead with his one-size-fits-all withdrawal of the furlough scheme while increasing employers’ costs.  

TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady welcomed the extension of the furlough scheme, but she warned that the “threat of mass unemployment has not gone away.”

Ms O’Grady urged the government to give more money to industries hit hardest by the pandemic, such as hospitality, while investing in new jobs in “green infrastructure, transport and public services.” 

Workers in some sectors, such as theatres, will be excluded from the furlough scheme as they need to have been employed on October 30 to be eligible, said Philippa Childs, head of entertainment union Bectu.

She added that Bectu has written to Mr Sunak asking him to consider amending the cut-off date.