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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what estimate he has made of the number of businesses making staff redundancies while using the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, and what assessment he has made of the potential merits of restricting employers from making redundancies while Government support is available.

The Department does not hold statistics on the number of business making staff redundant while using the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme. However, we are monitoring the broader picture on unemployment closely, with official data showing the number of payroll employees in April fell by 612,000 (2.1%) compared with March 2020.

The legal position in relation to redundancy and dismissal remains the same whether or not an employee has been furloughed. 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.