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HarperCollins UK has brought back all the staff it placed on furlough at the start of lockdown and will pay all their salaries itself rather than claiming it back from the government, the company has announced.
In a letter to staff confirming the change, c.e.o. Charlie Redmayne said business had “significantly improved” in recent times and the company's market share had grown while revenues were “stronger than we had anticipated".
HarperCollins placed a number of its staff on furlough in April, including at its distribution centre and across the wider company, although it never confirmed the exact number. Staff received 100% of their regular salary, which was due to be topped up from the 80% paid for under the government's Job Retention Scheme.
On Friday (19th June), Redmayne said all those staff had been brought back as of this month, except those who remain off work to shield them from underlying health conditions, and said HarperCollins would now be paying all the salaries itself.
He said: “Whilst we are not out of the woods yet it is clear our UK business is in a much stronger position than we had anticipated and we have therefore decided not to claim back any of the money from the government for our furloughed staff. They were paid their full salaries throughout but as we are able to bear the cost of that—we should. At this time the government has many calls on its funds and it is not right that we should be one of them.”
Addressing how business had gone during lockdown, Redmayne added: “Over the intervening period our business has significantly improved. It remains a challenging environment but we have had excellent publishing across all divisions and the company has performed brilliantly in all areas. I’d like particularly to thank our distribution centre staff who continued to get our books to market and led the industry throughout this period."