This week's opinion: 14 May 2020

I intend no disrespect to the people who worked long and hard to put it in place, but in many ways the launch of the coronavirus job retention scheme was the easy part of the process: finding a way to bring it to an end may prove much harder. 

Clearly it must finish at some point: the government cannot to continue to pay the salaries of almost a quarter of the UK workforce. We know that it will not end overnight, but what might a transition look like? A gradual reduction in the support rate from 80% down to, say 50%, seems to be one possibility, combined perhaps with allowing furloughed employees to work part-time.

At least what we have now is reasonably simple. The computations are complex but the basic equation of ‘furlough = no work’ is easy to understand. If we move to a situation where people can do some work with the government subsidising the non-working hours, the complications for employers and those advising them will mount up quickly. 

I have expressed concerns before about the possibility of abuse of the system; a hybrid scheme of part-time furloughing could be open to further exploitation. That is not to say that the amendments should not be made – a gradual phase out is inevitable. But advisers could become stuck in the middle, holding the balance between ensuring that clients have the support which is due and that the rules are adhered to. 

There will be many tricky situations to deal with in the coming weeks.