'Jobs disaster' warning from Shadow chancellor Annelise Dodds during Chesterfield visit

Speaking during a visit to the Weightron in Chesterfield, Ms Dodds highlighted this week’s deadline for small and medium size employers (SMEs) to issue redundancy notices before the coronavirus job retention scheme (CRJS), or furlough scheme, ends on October 31.

That deadline is critical for firms that employ between one and 249 people that are planning to lay off between 20 and 99 people before the scheme closes.

New analysis from Labour shows that at the beginning of September an estimated 2.8 million SME employees were furloughed under the CJRS.

Since then new restrictions have been introduced across the UK that mean 133,055 SMEs cannot operate at all or are trading at reduced capacity.

During her visit to Chesterfield, Ms Dodds also discussed what more the Government should be doing to close the skills gap to help employers like Weightron recruit the people they need.

Her visit came just over a week after she outlined Labour’s plans to replace the CRJS with a targeted and flexible wage support scheme, which it says would enable businesses in key sectors to bring back staff on reduced hours, with the Government paying wages the rest of the week.

Labour’s plans would also reward employers for offering high-quality training for staff and included conditions on support to ensure businesses treat workers well and pay their fair share of tax.

Ms Dodds has also called for a national retraining strategy to help those whose hours had been cut to increase their skills or retrain, and support those who have just lost their jobs to transition into new work.

She said: “It was great to visit Weightron to see how a great British manufacturer is coping with this crisis.

"Weightron are weathering the storm, but all too many SMEs are finding it understandably difficult.

“Last week, the Chancellor should have listened to Labour and introduced a jobs recovery scheme that incentivised employers to keep more staff on.

"Instead, millions of jobs are at risk because he’s forcing small businesses to choose which staff to keep and which to fire.

“These are viable businesses that just need support to cope with the restrictions the government has imposed on them.

"They pinned their hopes on the Chancellor to deliver, but he’s pulling up the drawbridge at the worst possible time.

"It’s a recipe for a jobs disaster.”