21.03.2020 / News / Covid-19

UVW call to employers to stop sacking or to rehire any sacked workers now

UVW is calling on all employers which have sacked, or were thinking of sacking their workers because of Coronavirus to immediately rehire them, or shelve plans to sack them.

Through the government’s Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) the government will pay 80% of the wages of any workers paid through PAYE who you’ve already sacked, or who you would otherwise have sacked because of Coronavirus.

This 80% wage subsidy is capped at £2,500 per month, will be backdated to 1st March and is available to any employer in the country – small or large, charitable or non-profit.

All you have to do to ensure your workers, and our members, receive this money is to put them back on the payroll, or simply keep them there. You do not need to offer them work.

Given that our members, and millions of other workers, can only access this money – this lifeline – through you, and which will come at no or a negligible cost to you, it would be unforgivable – scandalous even – for you to refuse to pass this lifeline on to your workers.

We are also calling on you, where possible, and particularly in respect of our lowest paid members, to cover the 20% shortfall in their wages even if through committing to a retrospective payment in the future.

Our broader response to the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme can be found here.

And our general demands of our member’s employers can be found here.