Ministers admit jobs WILL be lost as furlough ends TODAY
‘At some point it had to end’: Ministers admit jobs WILL be lost as furlough closes TODAY despite fears a MILLION are still reliant on handouts – but say there is ‘support’ and they should seek ‘new opportunities’
Ministers admit some people face losing jobs as furlough finally ends tomorrowGovernment says scheme had to end ‘at some point’ and there are ‘opportunities’Latest figures from July showed 1.6million jobs still being propped up by schemeExperts warned only a ‘trickle’ of staff were being taken off furlough scheme
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Ministers have admitted jobs will be lost as the Government’s furlough scheme finally ends today after 19 months.
Chief Secretary to the Treasury Simon Clarke said the huge bailout – which has cost the taxpayer more than £68billion – ‘has to end at some point’.
And he played down the risk of a deluge of unemployment, insisting there is ‘support’ and people should seek ‘new opportunities’.
The latest figures show that as of July 1.6million jobs were being propped up by furlough, which has been running since March last year. Experts have warned that around a million could still be reliant on the handouts.
At its peak a third of all employees were being paid to stay at home in an unprecedented government move.
But it is due to come to an end from midnight, with other support measures to follow.
The latest figures showed 1.6million jobs were still being propped up by the furlough scheme at the end of July
Chief Secretary Simon Clarke said the huge bailout – which has cost the taxpayer more than £68billion – ‘has to end at some point’
In a round of interviews this morning, Mr Clarke said that job losses were ‘part of the process’ of recovery from the pandemic.
‘Obviously there will be a variety of outcomes, I don’t have an estimate with me today. There will be some job losses,’ he told Sky News.
‘Furlough has protected 11.6million jobs in total … at some point you have to end these emergency measures.
‘People’s jobs will be created just as some have very sadly been lost, that is part of the process of ending this crisis and going back to normal.’
Mr Clarke said: ‘There is a lot of opportunity out there for people now. There’s never an easy moment to end these measures.
‘They’ve been hugely important but it is also time to recognise that we are now, thankfully, out of the teeth of this pandemic … and we’re in a situation where normal opportunity is back out there for people to embrace.’
He added there would be a ‘range’ of options for those who would find themselves without work and that the unemployment rate had fallen seven months in a row.
‘We never said we could protect every job … I think we need to be totally honest about this, the Covid pandemic has taken a toll on our economy, it’s changed some things,’ he said.
‘My message to people would be there are these opportunities there.’
Furlough numbers dipped by 340,000 by the end of July – the first month that employers had to pay 10 per cent of the salaries.
But experts have warned that only a ‘trickle’ are being taken off furlough and a million could still be reliant on the bailout.
HM Revenue & Customs figures showed 121,600 people between the ages of 18 and 34 were taken off the furlough scheme in June and July.
Furlough launched in the early days of the pandemic as a way of ensuring that people could keep their jobs, and a portion of their income, even when the economy closed down.
For those who were unable to work from home, the scheme would pay them up to 80 per cent of their salaries.
However from the beginning of July employers had to contribute 10 per cent of their furloughed employees’ salaries. This went up again to 20 per cent for August and September.
Since launching 18 months ago, close to 12million jobs have been furloughed. The Government has paid a total of £68.5billion to furloughed employees.
Furlough levels remained the higher in London on July 31 than in other parts of the country, especially for men.
Eight London areas were among those with the highest furlough rates, at 9 per cent to 10 per cent.
Concerns have been raised about the number of workers over the age of 50 who are still furloughed.
More than 540,000 people in the age group were on furlough at the end of July, accounting for 35 per cent of the total, according to research.
Rest Less, which offers help and advice for older people, said the pandemic had ‘devastated’ the job market for older workers over the past two years.
Founder Stuart Lewis said the full impact might still to be felt, adding: ‘With more than half a million people aged 50 or older still on furlough at the last count, we may well see hundreds of thousands of hardworking, experienced older workers enter redundancy and, ultimately, find themselves looking for a new job in the run-up to Christmas.
‘The jobs market is polarised at the moment. On the one hand, we have record job vacancies and companies struggling to hire talent in key areas, for example HGV drivers and healthcare.
‘On the other side, unemployment levels across many age groups have yet to recover and we are seeing huge falls in economic activity amongst midlifers.
‘Much more can be done to help bridge these gaps through intensive retraining and accelerated assessment programmes.’
Rest Less said its research suggested long-term trends of employment growth among the over-50s has been reversed over the past two years.
