The UK has been supporting more than three million people who have been claiming unemployment benefits since the beginning of the pandemic. The number of people applying for unemployment benefits frequently increase since companies are letting go of their staff in large numbers. The only reason for companies not able to support their employees was the pandemic, which brought the national lockdown around March and April. A large number of people were not moving out of their houses which meant businesses were not functioning the way they should have, nor were they making deadlines and targets.
While the Government sought to assist people to the best of their ability, they started the furlough scheme that was running through the pandemic, where they were giving companies 80% of the salaries of employees, with them only paying the difference. While this should have been an easy task, companies were still letting go of their staff, which only showed that they were not getting through the pandemic, and the furlough scheme was a benefit, just not enough to pull the economy out of recession.
When the Government initially mentioned that they were planning on cancelling the furlough scheme at the end of October, they knew that it was a bad idea since companies and the economy would get hit hard without it. Various groups immediately asked for a replacement it with another scheme and to stagger its cancellation since they were powering the UK economy, and the Government did just that. In brief, the new and updated scheme is going to assist specific jobs needed for security during the pandemic. They have put together a list of rules for various companies to see if they fall under those categories and can apply for those schemes.
Other businesses learned that they would have to make changes to the way they were functioning if they wanted to keep running. One of the most significant changes they were making was working with employees who started remote working. Offices throughout the UK had rules about the number of people who could be in an enclosed space. Remote working allowed people to come into the office if they choose to, but for the most part, they would work remotely, allowing them to increase their productivity even when the office was closed.
These developments came with changes that employers have to make as well, and one of the most significant changes that they had to work with was background checks. While they always conducted background checks, they were random. Now, they were slowly turning into a mandatory requirement to match the job descriptions, and some of them were being quite strict about the way they handled them.
The usual check that employers went through was the DBS check which allowed them to go through the background information, criminal records and misdemeanours relating to the people in question. They could even go through the DBS certificate of the person online, which made it fast and convenient. The people who were applying for a job could also update their DBS information through the DBS update service and they would change it after verification.
