Chancellor Announces New Measures To Boost Business  

Businesses which bring furloughed employees back to work will receive a £1,000 bonus per employee as part of measures designed to help jumpstart the job market following the end of the furlough scheme, the Chancellor announced yesterday.

Through the Jobs Retention Bonus, employers who bring back furloughed employees will receive a £1,000 bonus per employee so long as the employee is employed through January 2021 and paid at least £520 on average.

The Government will also pay employers £1,000 to take on new trainees and pay businesses to hire young apprentices, with a new payment of £2,000 per apprentice. The Government will also pay businesses a bonus of £1,500 to hire apprentices aged over 25.

The Kickstart scheme is also set up to pay employers for new positions created for 16-24-year olds. Each grant will be six months’ worth of the young person’s wages paid at the National Minimum Wage, plus an amount to cover overheads.

In addition, the threshold for the stamp duty holiday has been increased from £125,000 to £500,000 until 31 March 2021.