Furlough remains highest in London as scheme winds down

A woman wearing a protective face mask passes closed non-essential shops in central London, as England continues to ease coronavirus restrictions. Picture date: Tuesday April 6, 2021. Prime Minister Boris Johnson faces a battle over plans to introduce �vaccine passports� for people to demonstrate their Covid-19 status, using a smartphone app. Read less Picture by: Dominic Lipinski/PA Wire/PA Images Date taken: 06-Apr-2021
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Furlough levels remain highest in London than in other parts of the country, especially for men, the latest data reveals.

Eight London areas were among those with the highest furlough rates, at 9% to 10%. The only non-London places in the top 10 areas with the highest furlough rates were Crawley in West Sussex and Slough in Berkshire.

Since launching 18 months ago, close to 12 million jobs have been furloughed. The Government has paid a total of £68.5 billion to furloughed employees.

Around 1.6 million people were still furloughed at the end of July, as the scheme started to wrap up, the data shows.

HM Revenue and Customs said that around 340,000 people moved off furlough during the month, meaning fewer people are furloughed than at any point since the pandemic started.

July was the first month that employers had to pay 10% of the salaries of their furloughed workers, giving them an incentive to bring staff back, or end their employment.

“It’s fantastic to see furlough levels at their lowest since the start of the pandemic with young people in particular getting back to work and kickstarting their careers as the UK gets back to business,” said Chancellor Rishi Sunak.

“With furlough naturally unwinding and coming to a close at the end of the month, we are doubling down on our Plan for Jobs – focusing our support on giving people the skills and opportunities they need to succeed in the jobs of tomorrow.”

Around 121,600 people between the ages of 18 and 34 were taken off the furlough scheme in June and July, the data showed.

The over-65s are now the most likely to be on furlough, with 8% of those eligible in the age group still on the scheme.

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 that were unable to work from home, the scheme would pay them up to 80% of their salaries.

However from the beginning of July employers had to contribute 10% of their furloughed employees’ salaries. This went up again to 20% for August and September.

At the end of this month the scheme will come to a complete end.