Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • Maternity & Paternity
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
    • OHW Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • Maternity & Paternity
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
    • OHW Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+

RetailLatest NewsHospitalityFurloughJob Support Scheme

One in eight workers furloughed in December

by Rob Moss 29 Jan 2021
by Rob Moss 29 Jan 2021 Dominic Lipinski/PA Wire/PA Images
Dominic Lipinski/PA Wire/PA Images

Around 13% of UK workers were furloughed, whether fully or partly, at the end of December according to figures released by HM Revenue and Customs.

Throughout the last month of 2020, as the four governments of the UK increased restrictions before entering the current lockdown, an average of 3.85 million employments were furloughed under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS).

This was slightly down from the November average of 4.05 million, but still much higher than October when it was 2.52 million.

During its peak in May 2020, around three-in-ten private sector employees – 8.9 million in total – were furloughed. ONS survey data published this week suggests furloughing rates have climbed higher still in January as the lockdown, including school closures, have been implemented across the country.

Workers aged 18-24 were most likely to have been furloughed in December – representing 17% of furloughed workers – while employers in hospitality (1 million), retail (0.7 million) and leisure (0.3 million) accounted for more than half of all furloughed staff.

The Resolution Foundation think tank said that while the retention scheme held back the tide of job losses during the pandemic, the planned winding down of furloughing on 30 April is expected to cause a fresh surge in unemployment, which will peak in the summer.

Business groups including the CIPD and CBI have called for the CJRS to be extended to June 2021, while the Institute for Employment Studies has gone further, suggesting the autumn.

Charlie McCurdy, researcher at the Resolution Foundation, said: “The Job Retention Scheme has been a living standards lifeline for millions of workers, with three-in-ten private sector workers furloughed at the peak of the first lockdown. And with the UK back in lockdown, over four million employees are likely to be on furlough right now.

“The winding up of the scheme in just three months’ time is expected to cause a fresh wave of unemployment. It’s vital therefore that the chancellor ensures a flexible transition out of the scheme, in order to avoid millions of workers simply moving from furlough straight into unemployment.”

Before Rishi Sunak extended the CJRS beyond the end of October 2020, businesses had been expecting the Job Support Scheme, a short-time working initiative. Whether this will be launched in May along with the £1,000 bonus for each previously furloughed employee still on the books three months after the CJRS ends, remains to be seen. In November Sunak said the bonus would be scrapped “for now” and replaced with a new job retention incentive that would be deployed at an “appropriate time”.

Kirsty Rogers, employment partner at legal business DWF, said: “Many employers will be relying on the government support to see them through the difficult months ahead. The amendment to the rules of the CJRS meaning employers can no longer claim for employees who are serving notice will deter some employers from making redundancies as they simply cannot afford the notice pay, which means many final decisions will be postponed until April.

“News of various vaccinations provided the much-needed light at the end of the tunnel at the end of 2020. It is hoped that as the mass vaccination programme is in full swing, employers will delay making redundancies and continue to use the CJRS until the end of April when restrictions may be reduced as the impact of the vaccine takes full effect and the work may pick up.”

HR business partner opportunities on Personnel Today

Browse more HR business partner jobs

Rob Moss
Rob Moss

Rob Moss is a business journalist with more than 25 years' experience. He has been editor of Personnel Today since 2010. He joined the publication in 2006 as online editor of the award-winning website. He specialises in labour market economics, gender diversity and family-friendly working. He has hosted hundreds of webinar and podcasts, most recently on the challenges created by the coronavirus pandemic. Before writing about HR and employment he ran news and feature desks on publications serving the global optical and eyewear market, the UK electrical industry, and energy markets in Asia and the Middle East.

previous post
The post-lockdown office: Mark Kass talks to Oven-Ready HR
next post
Employers overestimating effectiveness of their health benefits, poll finds

Leave a Comment Cancel Reply

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

You may also like

P&O Ferries boss denies reputational damage after mass...

27 May 2022

Parliament launches UK labour market inquiry

27 May 2022

Menopausal worker loses sex and disability discrimination claim

27 May 2022

Employers must help employees ‘flourish’ post-pandemic

27 May 2022

‘Inequality is embedded in our labour market’ says...

27 May 2022

More than £1bn of upskilling loan money has...

26 May 2022

Monkeypox advice for employers: working from home and...

26 May 2022

Davos 2022: Upskilling workers necessary to overcome business...

26 May 2022

Strathclyde Business School expands its Degree Apprenticeship offer...

26 May 2022

Personnel Today Awards 2022: Two weeks left for...

26 May 2022
  • Strathclyde Business School expands its Degree Apprenticeship offer in England PROMOTED | The University of Strathclyde is expanding its programmes...Read more
  • The Search for Talent: Six Major Employer Pitfalls PROMOTED | The Great Resignation continues unabated...Read more
  • Navigating the widening “Skills Confidence Gap” in 2022, and beyond PROMOTED | Cornerstone OnDemand conducted a global study...Read more
  • Apprenticeships are the solution to your recruitment problems PROMOTED | Apprenticeships have the pulling power...Read more
  • What it really means to be mentally fit PROMOTED | What is mental fitness...Read more
  • How music can help to ease anxiety at work PROMOTED | A lot has happened since March 2020, hasn’t it?...Read more

Personnel Today Jobs
 

Search Jobs

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
OHW+
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2022

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2022 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • Maternity & Paternity
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
    • OHW Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+