In a press release issued at the end of last month, Chief Executive Officer, Peter Cheese said:

'Letting furloughed staff work some hours, where possible, will enable organisations to bring back workers from furlough gradually while rebuilding their business. This will be vital as lockdown measures are eased over a number of weeks or months, and will reduce the risk of large-scale redundancies in this next phase of the crisis.  

'The Government must also consider extending the scheme to at least the end of September. This will provide more certainty for employers and ensure that there is no ‘cliff edge’ exit from furlough straight to redundancy for hundreds of thousands of workers at the end of June.'

The employer survey received widespread national coverage, including CIPD’s Head of Policy, Ben Wilmott being interviewed on BBC’s 5 Live, Wake Up to Money.  

Recent announcements on plans from the Chancellor to wind down the JRS from July and to ease people back to work in a measured way, has resulted in the CIPD further strengthening its calls for an extended scheme and flexible approach. In a statement released to media yesterday the CIPD  said that 4 million redundancies have been avoided but the scheme needs to be reviewed to continue to save jobs. 

As well as publicly calling for the furlough scheme to be extended and made more flexible, the CIPD also met with HM Treasury to take them through proposals. 

Supporting employers during the pandemic 

Last week saw Peter Cheese, CEO and Ben Wilmott, Head of Public Policy meet with the Minister of Employment, Mims Davies to look at the labour market during the current crisis. The discussion focused on how the CIPD can support the Department for Work and Pensions tackle the impact of job losses throughout the crisis, as well as to help employers that have seen an increased demand in their sector to find the right people. Ms Davies acknowledged the important role the people profession and CIPD members have to play in this. 

Returning to the workplace 

The CIPD has continued to share practical advice and guidance on our coronavirus hub and across our social channels on returning to the workplace once lockdown measures begin to ease. Our most recent live Q&A on Twitter (#AskTheCIPD) looked at this issue and we heard from CIPD experts, as well as workplace specialists and employment lawyers. 

Following on from the publication of our returning to the workplace guide, Peter Cheese, CIPD CEO, appeared on SKY News to highlight that there is not a one size fits all approach and businesses will need to put people first.

Our webinar on Monday will look at what organisations should be focusing on and we will shortly be publishing five principles that organisations can use to help them as they plan a gradual return. These will focus on taking care of people and safeguarding health and well-being. Look out for more details on the website soon.