Redundancy fears as end of furlough hits 1million

REDUNDANCIES are set to follow the end of the government’s £70billion furlough scheme – leaving workers who relied on the payments facing an uncertain future.

Almost 1million were receiving financial support until yesterday, the Office for National Statistics estimates.

And rising unemployment will be ‘part of the process’ of the economic recovery from the pandemic, chief secretary to the Treasury Simon Clarke warned.

‘I don’t have an estimate, but 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.

‘We never said we could protect every job. My message to people would be there are opportunities there.’

Economists warned that although many may find work in recovering sectors such as hospitality and travel, there is likely to be a rise in unemployment.

Alan Custis, head of equities at Lazard Asset Management, said Australia and the US saw unemployment spikes when financial support for workers ended there.

The jobless rate – currently at 4.6 per cent – could rise to ‘five per cent for the year end, before falling in 2022’, he said.

And the Liberal Democrats urged chancellor Rishi Sunak to extend furlough for six more months to prevent a ‘tidal wave’ of job losses in the ten worst-affected sectors.

But with a record 1million job vacancies currently available, trade body leaders urged ministers to reform business rates, lower VAT and invest in training to give jobseekers ‘high-quality skills’.