6.3 million workers furloughed as UK death toll tops Europe
london — Around a quarter of employees in Britain have been furloughed and companies have claimed £8 billion ($9.9 billion) from the government to sustain their wage bills during the coronavirus lockdown, tax authorities said on Monday.
HM Revenue and Customs said on Twitter that 6.3 million workers from 800,000 employers had been furloughed, citing figures up to midnight (2300 GMT) on Sunday.
That accounts for 23 per cent of Britain’s 27.5 million private sector workers, according to the most recent labour market data, and underlines how heavily the world’s fifth-largest economy is leaning on the state during the coronavirus pandemic.
Britain on Tuesday became the first country in Europe to confirm more than 30,000 coronavirus deaths. Britain looks set to surpass Italy as Europe’s hardest-hit nation. The government says 28,734 people with Covid-19 had died in UK hospitals, nursing homes and other settings while Italy has reported 29,079 fatalities. Tallies from both nations are likely to be underestimates because they only include people who tested positive and testing was not widespread in Italian and British nursing homes until recently.
Yet official UK statistics released on Tuesday that take into account people who died with suspected Covid-19 give a fuller picture and put Britain’s coronavirus toll at more than 30,000 dead.
The pandemic has dealt a severe blow to companies as well.
Under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, which is central to efforts to stop companies laying off workers during a forced shutdown of much of the economy, the state pays 80 per cent of workers’ pay up to £2,500 a month.
The scheme is due to run until the end of June, but Finance Minister Rishi Sunak said on Monday there would be “no cliff edge”.
“I am working as we speak to figure out the most effective way to wind down the scheme and ease people back into work in a measured way,” Sunak said in an ITV
News interview. “But as some scenarios have suggested we are potentially spending as much on the furlough scheme as we do on the NHS (National Health System) for example. Now, clearly that is not a sustainable situation.” The scheme is likely to cost the public finances around £39 billion, based on an assumption that 30 per cent of employees are enrolled, Britain’s official budget forecasters have said.
The figures came as pensions minister Therese Coffey said the government received 1.8 million claims for welfare payments between March 16 and the end of April via its ‘Universal Credit’ benefits system. Universal Credit benefits are paid to people in work as well as those who have lost their jobs. —
I am working as we speak to figure out the most effective way to wind down the scheme and ease people back into work in a measured way Rishi Sunak
UK’s Finance Minister