Barclays halts job cuts while coronavirus crisis ongoing
Barclays has halted new job cuts while the coronavirus is ongoing the bank said in a memo.
Barclays said it is also supporting staff in the process of being made redundant, the memo seen by Reuters said.
The lender said it would support staff by paying up to 80 per cent of an employee’s wages up to £2,500 per month in an offering modelled on the government’s furlough scheme.
The bank will pay for the scheme rather than the government.
A Barclays spokesman confirmed the contents of the memo to Reuters.
Building society Nationwide earlier this month confirmed it would make no compulsory redundancies during 2020.
HSBC last month said it was halting the vast majority of a planned 35,000 job cuts during the coronavirus crisis.
The bank had planned the sweeping job cuts as part of a massive restructuring plan under new chief executive Noel Quinn.
The coronavirus crisis has led to a sharp rise in the number of people claiming benefits in the UK, with work and pensions secretary Therese Coffey telling the BBC today that the UK has received about 1.4m new benefit claims for welfare payments.