14 Oct 2021
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Furlough Scheme in the UK ends, as reported on WageIndicator UK
11 October 2021 - The HRMC's coronavirus job retention scheme, also known as the furlough scheme, ended on 30 September 2021. This project has helped 11.6 million workers since the pandemic began, costing the government roughly £66 billion, one-fifth of the total money spent in relief for coronavirus.
The impact of the pandemic on the labour market is clear; between April 2020 and June 2021 200 000 people were made redundant per quarter, compared to 110 000 in the previous year.
Only 56% of people found re-employment in six months, down from 66% before the pandemic. The worst affected are Londoners, 50+, and those without a degree with only 44%, 35% and 49% respectively having found re-employment within six months. The 60+ labour market has seen a 20% increase in workers who are still out of work or not looking for a job six months after being made redundant.
A closer look at the impact on London
Londoners have seen an imbalanced impact. London has a 14% share of the UK labour force, but in July 2021, Londoners were 19% of the total number of people on furlough and made up 16% of the total number of redundancies throughout the pandemic.
The government implemented the furlough scheme at the beginning of the pandemic to assist businesses impacted by the pandemic to pay their employees. The government paid 80% of the wage for those with monthly salaries of up to £2500. In July 2021, over a year on, this was reduced to 60%, with 1.6 million workers still on the furlough scheme. The project has potentially saved millions of jobs since, at the start of the pandemic, the genuine fear was that the UK economy would lose 1 in 10 jobs. Whilst this may not have happened, it is clear that the labour market and how people work has significantly changed.
Wage Indicator's Life in Coronavirus survey in the UK has found that 45% of those surveyed expected to receive less income in a month. 81% of those surveyed said that their work had been affected by the pandemic. 27% reported changing to working from home, and 41% reported having their work duties restricted due to the pandemic. 38% of people have said their work duties have decreased. In comparison, 21% said their work duties have increased — Wage Indicator reports that UK individuals' overall life satisfaction is at 5.3 out of 10 currently. Learn more about the impact of Covid -19 in the Living and Working during the Coronavirus Pandemic division of our website
Sources
https://ifs.org.uk/publications/15644
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-58735299