Chancellor refuses to extend furlough scheme for arts workers

Photo credit: Peter Nicholls/Reuters

In yet another blow for the arts industry, Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced today that the furlough scheme will not be extended for individual sectors or those in need, including those employed by hundreds of arts venues across the UK.

Speaking on BBC Breakfast this morning, Sunak said: "The government has helped pay wages for eight months. There is still support there – the job retention bonus means that for every successful employee that you can bring back from furlough and re-employ through to January, the company will receive a thousand pounds."

"The theatre and entertainment sector is one of our great strengths as a nation, we've provided £1.5bn which was warmly received, to help them bridge to what is 'quite a while before they can operate as normal'. Those funds are being distributed now."

The grants and loans pledged within the package that Sunak refers to have, in fact, not yet opened and funds are not expected to be distributed until early Autumn.