Coronavirus: Chancellor's summer statement - BBC News
Firms that have furloughed staff will be given £1,000 bonus per employee to keep workers in jobs.
The government is offering a carrot to businesses if they hang on to their workers.

£1,000 for every worker who returns from furlough who is still employed at the end of January.

The government says it could cost up to £9bn – a pretty blunt calculation of 9 million furloughed workers multiplied by £1000.

Of course it won’t be that simple.

The calculation facing business owners is more complicated.

Do they want to start paying 5% of employee wage costs next month, then 14% in September and then over 20% in October – followed by three months of full wages to land a prize of £1,000 during the worst recession in living memory.

A lot of that will be contingent on demand, which the chancellor has tried to stimulate in the worst-affected industries by cutting VAT and offering half-price early bird food, but it is surely wildly optimistic to think that employers will hang on for that long.

We also learned two other important things today.

First, that any idea of extending the furlough scheme – as many have called for in some form - appears dead.

Second, the government and business are realising just how much they need each other.

These programmes are big and challenging to deliver.

Rishi Sunak said early on that today is not the last intervention but the next intervention.

The biggest question of all – the question that may determine the future of hundreds of thousands of workers - is whether he’s made his carrot big enough.