Retail

7 lakh UK jobs could be axed as furlough scheme nears end

17 Sep '20

2 min read

Pic: Shutterstock

Around 700,000 jobs could be scrapped as the UK government’s coronavirus job retention scheme comes to a close, according to new research by the Institute for Employment Studies, which estimated that there will be 450,000 job losses in the coming months. The figure could exceed 700,000 if employers continue to make redundancies, it cautioned.

The coronavirus jobs retention scheme ends in in October end. Employers have to notify the government’s Insolvency Service ahead of any job cuts that involve more than 20 staff.

Companies notified the government of nearly 380,000 staff at risk of redundancy between May and July. This was more than twice as many as at the height of financial crisis in 2009, according to British media reports. Big retailers like Marks & Spencer, Debenhams and John Lewis announced job cuts since the pandemic struck.

Meanwhile, NatWest’s research found that employment levels continued to drop across the board in August. Redundancies increased in eight regions, including Yorkshire, which was the worst-performing region after employment fell sharply, while the slowest reduction was in Scotland.

In June, 1778 firms said they were intending to cut more than 139,000 jobs in England, Wales and Scotland. Last year, only 345 firms had plans to cut 24,000 jobs.

Last week, the Centre for Retail Research found that over 125,000 jobs in the UK retail sector have been lost in the first eight months of 2020. This was far higher than previous estimates.

The centre said 125,515 retail jobs have been axed and 13,867 shops have permanently shut across high streets, shopping centres and retail parks.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)

More Retail News - United Kingdom...