More than 200,000 county workers are living on furlough

More than 200,000 people across Kent and Medway are signed up to the government’s furlough scheme, new figures have revealed. Statistics released by HM Revenue and Customs show about 29% of the county’s workforce are having their wages paid by the taxpayer. The news comes as unemployment claims in May rose by 26% with 15,000 more people signing on. Medway has the highest number of employees being supported by the furlough Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS), with 30,700 in all.

Meanwhile, Gravesham and Thanet have the largest proportions of their workers receiving their pay from the government, at 39% and 36% respectively.

But business expert professor Richard Scase fears the scheme is delaying expected mass redundancies across the county in the autumn. “The figures reflect how across the county Kent is heavily dependent on the hospitality and retail industries. The lockdown has really affected those sectors,” he explained.

“In a sense, the government is deferring the real doom and gloom that’s going to hit the county. That, I reckon, will hit the county in September or October.

“A high percentage of hospitality and retail business are small-to-medium-sized

- and the evidence shows they’re going to run out of money in three to four months’ time. “They’ve been given a stay of execution by furlough.” The CJRS was launched on April 20 three months ago in order prevent mass lay-offs, as scores of businesses were forced to cease trading during lockdown.

The scheme was introduced by Chancellor Rishi Sunak to help employers across the country retain employees by fitting the bill for 80% of their wages up to £2,500 per month. It will run until the end of October, with companies having to start contributing to employees’ salaries in August. “A number of employers are not going to be able to afford to do that,” Mr Scase added. “In places like Canterbury and Tunbridge Wells – the retail centres of the county – they’re going to be hit hard in September and October. “We’re going to see shop closures in the high street and small-to-medium-sized enterprises go out of business. “I think west Kent is probably less vulnerable than east Kent because you have a higher percentage of people there who will be able to go backwards and forwards to London.”

The government also rolled out in May the Selfemployment Income Support Scheme, which has supported more than 75,000 self-employed people across the county. Figures show that the claims paid out in Kent and Medway are worth £236,000,000.

Meanwhile, May – the second full month of lockdown – saw 72,925 people claiming unemployment benefits. The increase was 26.7% but that was still less dramatic than the previous month. In April, 24,495 began signing on while May’s figure was 15,370. By contrast between February and March, claims only rose by 325.

The Medway Towns saw the largest rise with 3,105 new claims last month taking it to 12,415 claimants.

This is how the other boroughs fared with people signing on:

■ Ashford was up 995 to 4,995

■ Canterbury 920 to 5,505

■ Dartford 1,080 to 4,215

■ Dover 530 to 4,890

■ Folkestone and Hythe 660 to 4,920

■ Gravesham 1,210 to 4,965

■ Maidstone 1,505 to 5,775

■ Sevenoaks 875 to 3,060

■ Swale 895 to 6,415

■ Thanet 1,550 to 8,860

■ Tonbridge and Mailling 1,025 to 3,565

■ Tunbridge Wells up 1,015 to 3,340

Business expert Professor Richard Scase