Dickson Calls on Minister to Make Changes to Maximise Benefits of Furlough Extension

East Antrim Alliance MLA, Stewart Dickson, has called on the Minister for the Economy to consider what changes can be made to employment law to allow those made redundant prior to the announcement that the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme will continue until March, to benefit from this extension.

Mr Dickson commented: “Following the announcement on Saturday that the furlough scheme was to be extended, I submitted a question to the Minister to see what can be done to help workers in Northern Ireland to benefit from this.

“Unfortunately, this announcement was so late, I have concerns that many people may have already been made redundant based on the expected end date of the scheme on 31 October. Now the Scheme has been further extended to March, we need to see what we can do to help those that could have stayed on the scheme rather than being made redundant.

“Therefore, since employment law is a devolved matter, I am calling on the Economy Minister to look at what temporary measures can be implemented to help those that could have otherwise benefitted.”