'Hundreds of thousands' remain on furlough scheme week before support is due to end

Figures from the Office of National Statistics showed 7.5% of the workforce was receiving support from the Government between October 5 and 18, equivalent to more than two million people.

The figures are experimental and based on reports from trading businesses who responded to an ONS survey.

This is a sharp fall from June 1 to 14, when 29.5% of the country’s workers were benefitting from the scheme, while the number of jobs furloughed peaked at 8.9 million in early May.

Between March and August the Government covered 80% of the salaries of all employees who had been furloughed, with no cost to the employer under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.

But from the beginning of September, employers had to step in to cover 10% of the funding, up to a maximum of £312.50 a month. In October, this employer contribution doubled.

The furlough scheme will be replaced with the less generous Job Support Scheme on Sunday, November 1, and will cover employees doing 20% of their usual work who will receive at least 73% of their usual pay.

The amount employers are required to pay to top up their wages is 5% of unworked hours.

Concerns have been raised the more generous support system will cease just as the public health situation with the coronavirus gets worse.

Frances O’Grady, general secretary of the Trades Union Congress, said: “Stopping the devastation of mass unemployment must be the government’s top priority.

“But from this weekend, the financial support for workers and businesses will fall, despite the public health crisis getting worse. And that will mean employers will lay people off.

“No-one should lose their job just because of the coronavirus restrictions.

"Ministers must do more to stop mass unemployment and protect livelihoods – especially for those on lower incomes and the self-employed.”

Chancellor Rishi Sunak has made the new scheme more generous than initially proposed, offering grants of up to £2,100 a month for firms in Tier 2 areas of England, primarily to help hospitality and leisure venues.

The number of hours of people working in “viable” jobs was also cut, along with the employer contribution.

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