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Coronavirus: Travel Counsellors to furlough ‘a number of staff’

Travel Counsellors is to furlough “a number” of its head office staff following the announcement of the government’s coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.

Earlier this month the Manchester-based business started to consult 320 head office staff in Manchester about a range of options including redundancies. Other options included extended unpaid leave, reduced working hours, job-share opportunities.

A statement from the company on Tuesday said: “As we go through the consultation process with our support team, we are very pleased that we are able to avoid any redundancies by taking advantage of the government JRS [Job Retention Scheme] scheme and furloughing a number of people at this time.

“We are working this through with all of our valued colleagues on an individual basis, whilst continuing to focus on supporting our business owners and their customers through this unforeseen situation, and ensuring we are in a strong position for the future, when we look forward to welcoming these colleagues back into the business.”

As well as its employed support team, Travel Counsellors has a network of 1,300 independent, self-employed travel agents in the UK, and a further 600 overseas.

Last week it welcomed other government measures to support the self-employed, saying they will help retain talent within the travel industry.

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