Sheffield City Region mayor Dan Jarvis calls on the government to work with mayors and support businesses during coronavirus crisis

It comes after Chancellor Rishi Sunak revealed the UK's coronavirus furlough scheme will end at the end of October and employers will be told to contribute to the cost.

Businesses will have to start paying National Insurance and tax contributions for staff in August and workers can return part-time without losing any furlough payments from July.

Sheffield City Region mayor Dan Jarvis has urged the government to work alongside mayors across the country to help struggling businesses and hard-hit communities recover from the impact of the coronavirus crisis.

He said: “The extension and flexibility of furlough will provide much-needed certainty for employers and workers, and will help strike a balance between reopening the economy and bringing workers back safely.

“We must avoid the worst of both worlds: a hasty rush back to work and a second peak of coronavirus cases, which would be devastating to people’s health and their livelihoods.”

South Yorkshire’s metro mayor explained how the pandemic was impacting workers across the region and asked employers to keep staff on.

Dan Jarvis added: ““In South Yorkshire we are beginning to see a rise in unemployment.

“The furlough scheme is there to protect as many jobs as possible during the biggest public health crisis in generations – it must not be used as a smokescreen for redundancies now or further down the line.

“I urge employers to stand by their workers.”

He appealed to the government to work ‘with Metro Mayors’ to help organisations and communities rebuild their lives after the impact of Covid-19.

“The furlough scheme has proved vital to reducing the impact of the virus in the short term but as we move into recovery, renewal is needed.

“After the furlough scheme, a significant stimulus must follow, to tackle deep-seated problems in our society and economy.

“Only then we will be able to fix our infrastructure, unlock the region’s potential and deliver a green new deal for the economy and environment.”