Unless the Chancellor comes up with replacement funding for the furlough scheme, and there is no sign that this will happen, those businesses that have maintained their workforce by furloughing staff will face difficult choices when the present Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme closes down at the end of October.

Do we keep staff on in the hope that business will improve? Or is this so unlikely that laying staff off is the only sensible alternative?

Much will depend on the market sector in which you trade.

Hospitality, tourism and many high street retailers will be especially challenged by the requirements to socially distance and quarantine as uncertainty regarding secondary waves of infection continue to disrupt attempts at planning for the future.

Ironically, it is planning that is required in order to make post-furlough choices. 

• What will be future demand for your products and services?
• How will your direct and fixed costs be affected?
• Do you need to shelve investment decisions?
• Are prospects so bleak that you need to consider closing down your business?
• And finally, if you can see a way forward, what staffing levels do you need to support the planned activity and what changes – lay-offs – do you need to make?

If you are undecided which way to jump, please call so we can help you consider your options. Sometimes an objective overview is required to see the wood for the trees.