UK Inquiry Tracker

COVID-19: Support for jobs

Public Accounts Committee Closed Inquiry

Opened: 21 Oct 2020 Closed: 25 Mar 2021 Parliament page

In mid-November the Committee will question the most senior officials at the Treasury and HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) in its latest inquiry into the Government’s response to the Covid-19: this time on the programmes to support jobs during the pandemic. The Government implemented the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme - … Read more

16 Recommendations

6 Conclusions

1 Report

1 Oral session

4 Letters

1 Event

Activity timeline 7 events

15 Sep
2021

Correspondence

Correspondence from Jim Harra, Chief Executive and First Permanent Secretary, re Thirty-Fourth Report of Session 2019-21, dated 19 March 20…

16 Apr
2021

Correspondence

Correspondence from Jim Harra, Chief Executive and First Permanent Secretary, re Thirty-Fourth Report of Session 2019-21, dated 19 March 20…

15 Apr
2021

Correspondence

Correspondence from Tom Scholar, Permanent Secretary, HM Treasury, re Thirty-Fourth Report of Session 2019-21, dated 19 March 2021

25 Mar
2021

Report published

Treasury minutes: Government response to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Thirty fourth report from Session 2019-21

26 Jan
2021

Correspondence

Correspondence from Tom Scholar, Permanent Secretary, HM Treasury, re Thirty-Fourth Report of Session 2019-21, dated 20 January 2021

20 Dec
2020

Report published

Thirty-fourth Report - Covid-19: Support for jobs

12 Nov
2020

Oral evidence

COVID-19: Support for jobs

Oral evidence sessions 1 session

12 Nov 2020

View on parliament.uk

COVID-19: Support for jobs

Beth Russell · HM Treasury Jim Harra · HMRC Jo Rowland · HM Revenue and Customs Sir Tom Scholar · HM Treasury

Reports 1 report · click to expand

Title	HC No.	Published	Items	Response
Thirty-fourth Report - Covid-19: Support for jobs	HC 920	20 Dec 2020	22	Responded

Recommendations & Conclusions

2 results

4 Recommendation Accepted in Part

Thirty-fourth Report - Covid-19: S…

The Departments did not evaluate the schemes or identify which the groups they support before...

The Departments did not evaluate the schemes or identify which the groups they support before extending them. Both the schemes have been extended due to the prolonged impact of the pandemic, but the Departments have not yet produced evaluations of … Read more

Government Response

The government accepted the recommendation, stating HMRC already monitors and publishes statistics including age and gender. It committed to collecting new primary research on jobs outcomes and will evaluate the schemes, with the evaluation aiming to include employment impact, although specific monthly reporting on all protected groups was not explicitly stated.

HM Treasury

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16 Recommendation Accepted in Part

Thirty-fourth Report - Covid-19: S…

The initial CJRS scheme was due to end on 31 October 2020.

The initial CJRS scheme was due to end on 31 October 2020. In September, the government announced that it would be replaced by a Job Support Scheme (JSS) that would top up the wages of workers working at least one-third … Read more The initial CJRS scheme was due to end on 31 October 2020. In September, the government announced that it would be replaced by a Job Support Scheme (JSS) that would top up the wages of workers working at least one-third of their normal hours, with the employer also contributing.38 HM Treasury told us that this scheme was developed at a time when the “hope was that the economy would be largely open and recovering, but with particular temporary restrictions in particular areas”.39 The JSS was amended by government on two subsequent occasions, with an announcement on 9 October stating that where businesses were legally forced to close due to lockdown restrictions the government would pay two-thirds of wage costs, with the employer not obliged to top that up.40 A second modification on 22 October decreased the percentage of hours that an employee would be expected to work for businesses still open and increased the government contribution to topping up wages.41 However, by 5 November the government had moved all of England back into a full lockdown and subsequently announced that CJRS would be extended on broadly equivalent terms to the way the scheme had been operating back in August.42 Government also announced that SEISS would be extended to the end of January 2021 at the rate of 80% of a self-employed person’s trading profits. This was a more generous offering than previous versions of the SEISS extension that had been announced during September and October.43 We were concerned that constant changes to the levels of financial support available across the different schemes created job instability with businesses and employees,44 and also impacted on the future funding settlement for the devolved administrations.45 36 Q 49, C&AG’s Report, figure 6 37 Qq 82–83 38 C&AG’s Report, para 1.23 39 Q 55 40 C&AG’s Report, para 1.24 41 HM Treasury, Plan for Jobs: Chancellor increases financial support for businesses and workers. Available at: www.gov.uk/government/news/plan-for- Show less

Government Response

The government agrees with the recommendation and commits to providing as much clarity and forewarning as possible, citing a CJRS extension announcement. However, it qualifies this by stating that certainty must be balanced with responsiveness to the evolving pandemic.

HM Treasury

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Government Response AI assessment · 21 of 16 classified

Accepted 13

Accepted in Part 2

Acknowledged 3

Not Addressed 3

Total 16 recs + 6 conclusions

Correspondence 4 letters

15 Sep 2021 Correspondence from Jim Harra, Chief Executive and First Permanent Secretary, re Thirty-Fourth Report of Session 2019-21, dated 19 March 2021

Parliament page

16 Apr 2021 Correspondence from Jim Harra, Chief Executive and First Permanent Secretary, re Thirty-Fourth Report of Session 2019-21, dated 19 March 2021

Parliament page

15 Apr 2021 Correspondence from Tom Scholar, Permanent Secretary, HM Treasury, re Thirty-Fourth Report of Session 2019-21, dated 19 March 2021

Parliament page

26 Jan 2021 Correspondence from Tom Scholar, Permanent Secretary, HM Treasury, re Thirty-Fourth Report of Session 2019-21, dated 20 January 2021

Parliament page