The Treasury is under pressure to intervene as surging numbers of workers are put on notice of redundancy despite employers taking taxpayer cash to keep them on.
British Airways, Rolls-Royce and easyJet are among a growing number of companies planning redundancies despite having put thousands of staff on the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, which pays up to 80pc of each furloughed worker’s wages in an attempt to protect jobs.
Conservative MP Huw Merriman, chairman of the transport select committee, said making staff on furlough redundant broke the spirit of the scheme, and companies should be stopped or have to pay money back. He said: “It was always the spirit of the scheme that it was there to help retain staff, not pay for them during their redundancy notice.”
Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, appears minded to intervene. Answering questions from Mr Merriman about British Airways at the liaison committee last week, he declined to comment on individual companies but said: “I am concerned about the ways some companies are treating their workforce. People should not be using furlough to cynically keep people on their books and then get rid of them.”
Pressed over accusations that British Airways wants to slash staff’s terms and conditions, Mr Johnson continued: “We are looking at what we can do.”