Sunderland jobs furlough count falls - but number of men using scheme rises

Latest figures from HM Revenue and Customs show how many people across the country are using the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) and Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS).

Provisional figures, rounded to the nearest 100, show a total of 13,300 people out of an eligible 112,100 were using CJRS in Sunderland at the end of April, the equivalent of 12 per cent of the workforce, and a drop of 1,500 from the end of March.

But closer examination shows the decrease is down to a sharp fall in the number of women returning to work. There were 7,300 female workers on furlough at the end of March, which was down to 5,600 a month later.

By contrast, the number of male workers using the scheme rose over the month from 7,500 to 7,800.

Overall, the North East has the lowest number of people on furlough in England, with 115,400 people out of an eligible 1,078,300 using the scheme at the end of April – a rate of just 11 per cent and down from 141,800 a month earlier.

Across the region, just 48,000 of an eligible 93,000 applied for the fourth grant available under the SEISS last month.

Nationally, the number of employees on furlough dropped 900,000 from March to 3.4million.

‘Beverage serving’ saw the highest return to work rate, as beer gardens reopened .

The number of people on CJRS peaked at 5.1million in January and has been falling since

Since the start of the scheme last year, a total 11.5million jobs have been supported at various times, according to all claims submitted to HMRC by May 14.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak confirmed in March’s budget that the scheme would run until September and Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove said yesterday, Thursday, June 3, the Government was ‘open-minded’ to extending it.

The number of businesses using the scheme dropped last month, as coronavirus restrictions eased. Thirty-five per cent of employers had staff on furlough at the end of April, a fall of four per cent on March, while provisional figures show 12 per cent of eligible jobs nationwide remain on furlough, down from 15% in March.

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