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

Select Committee

Public Accounts Committee HC 920 20 December 2020

Report Status Government responded

Conclusions & Recommendations 22 items (16 recs)

Source View on Parliament website

Government Response (AI assessment · 21 of 22 classified)

Accepted 13

Accepted in Part 2

Acknowledged 3

Not Addressed 3

Government response

Treasury minutes: Government response to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Thirty fourth report from Session 2019-21 · published 25 Mar 2021

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Recommendations & Conclusions

2 results

4 Recommendation Accepted in Part

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

Recommendation

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 Summary

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

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

Recommendation

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 Summary

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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