Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will take steps to ensure that businesses receiving Government covid-19-related support do not make staff redundant.

Throughout this crisis, the Government has sought to protect people’s jobs and livelihoods whilst supporting businesses and public services across the UK.

The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) is specifically designed to protect jobs, and it has been used by 1.2 million employers to support 9.9 million jobs.

The legal position in relation to redundancy and dismissal remains the same whether or not an employee has been furloughed or whether or not the employer has received Government funding. Any redundancy process should be fair and reasonable with appropriate equalities considerations. Employees with the necessary qualifying service who believe that they have been unfairly selected for redundancy, or that the redundancy was unfair in some other way, may be able to complain to an employment tribunal.