Has furlough peaked? Number of jobs covered by massive bailout rises by just 100,000 in a week

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Has furlough peaked? Number of jobs covered by massive bailout has risen by just 100,000 in a week to 9.2million – lowest yet – with cost hitting £22.9bn

  • Job retention scheme costs rose by £2billion to £22.9billion in week to June 21
  • It comes ahead of a series of changes due to come into force in July
  • Furloughed staff will be allowed to return to work on a part-time basis 
  • Here’s how to help people impacted by Covid-19

By David Wilcock, Whitehall Correspondent For Mailonline

Published: | Updated:

The Government’s furlough scheme for workers may have peaked according to figures released today that show its lowest increase so far.

Just 100,000 new roles were added in the past week to take the total to 9.2million, according to Treasury numbers released this morning.

But the value of the scheme is not showing signs of plateauing, with costs rising by more than £2billion to £22.9billion in the week to June 21.

It comes ahead of a series of changes to the coronavirus job retention scheme (JRS) due to come into force in July.

Furloughed staff will be allowed to return to work on a part-time basis – a month earlier than originally planned.

Retailers have also reopened their doors from June 15, which could account for some of the levelling off. 

But future figures will give a better indication of whether Britons are going back to work, as claims can be made for a whole month’s worth of salary.

The Treasury also revealed loans to businesses hit by the coronavirus lockdown totalled more than £40 billion up to June 21.  

Slash NI and VAT to get the economy back on its feet, says Javid 

Former chancellor Sajid Javid heaped pressure on successor Rishi Sunak to cut taxes to help Britain recover from coronavirus today as he called for reductions in National Insurance and VAT.

Mr Javid, who quit in February after a bruising clash with Boris Johnson and his aide Dominic Cummings, called for a  ‘significant temporary’ reduction in NI to make it cheaper for employers to take on staff. 

He also said that a 3p VAT cut would pump £60billion into the economy over three years, in a move that adds to pressure on Mr Sunak to take an axe to taxes.

In a report for the Centre for Policy Studies (CPS) think tank he warned that the UK is unlikely to make a swift economic recovery after businesses were mothballed for three months.

‘Early hopes of a V-shaped recovery’ had ‘proved optimistic’ he said, and ‘some long-term damage to the economy’ had become ‘unavoidable’, with as many as 2.5 million people out of work due to the Covid-19 lockdown.

But in order to speed up the rate of people re-entering employment, Mr Javid argued in the report After The Virus, published on Tuesday, that ministers must make it easier for businesses to hire workers.

They included including £28.1 billion in bounceback loans, £10.5 billion through the coronavirus business interruption loan scheme (CBILS), £2.1 billion in coronavirus large business interruption loan scheme (CLBILS) to larger firms and £236.2 million as part of its Future Fund. 

Earlier this month it was revealed that almost a fifth of the populations of some parts of Britain have been furloughed due to coronavirus.

London has been the worst affected area, with all but one of the areas with the most furloughed posts covered by the Job Retention Scheme laying within the capital.

Those with the lowest number are to be found in sparsely populated areas of England Scotland and Wales, the Treasury statistics showed.

Meanwhile friends and family could be given the green light to meet up indoors for the first time in months today as Boris Johnson eases lockdown.

Cinemas, pubs and hairdressers are set to allowed to reopen in England from July 4 – dubbed ‘Super Saturday’ by some MPs – in a dramatic effort to get the country up and running again.

Throwing the dice with the economy threatening to go into meltdown, the PM will halve the two-metre social distancing rule crippling thousands of businesses and announce a return for staycations.

There is also speculation that people will be permitted to meet up in each other’s homes, although it is understood the proposal will not be the same as Northern Ireland where up to six people can gather indoors from today.

It is not clear whether the blueprint – being signed off by the Cabinet this morning before Mr Johnson makes a statement to the Commons later – will mean children can hug their grandparents yet. Reports suggest a mooted expansion of social ‘bubbles’, which would allow people to mix freely in groups, might have been dropped.

In a sign of the risks involved, Mr Johnson will warn that the changes will be reversed immediately if people abuse the new rules and the disease flares up again.

The relaxation – which will take effect the US Independence Day – comes amid growing optimism that the virus, which has claimed more than 42,000 lives in the UK, is finally dwindling.

Yesterday’s death toll rose by 15 – the lowest figure since March 13, ten days before the lockdown began.