One of the intentions of the furlough scheme and the new job support scheme is to avoid the need for redundancies or at least slow down the rate of job cuts. While these schemes are undoubtedly welcome, they may only delay the inevitable for many employees. There already have been large numbers of redundancies, and more may be on the way.

But when there are dismissals, there are claims. We can expect dismissed employees to allege that they have been selected on unfair or discriminatory grounds. In addition, there may be disputes over redundancy pay; employees might argue en masse that they are contractually entitled to a higher rate of enhanced redundancy pay.