Nearly a third of jobs furloughed in North Yorkshire, figures show

The Trades Union Congress has called on leaders to provide more support for businesses to “stem the tide of redundancies” when the scheme ends in October.

Figures from HM Revenue and Customs show around 85,000 claims to furlough jobs were made in North Yorkshire by the end of June.

That was 12,400 more than at the end of May, and means 31% of eligible jobs had been furloughed.

Under the job retention scheme, launched by Chancellor Rishi Sunak in March, the Government pays 80% of employees’ wages, up to a maximum of £2,500 per month per employee.

Across Yorkshire and The Humber, 30% of eligible jobs were furloughed by the end of June.

Mr Sunak recently announced that employers will receive a one-off bonus of £1,000 for each furloughed employee who is still employed by January 31 next year.

However, the TUC warned it “falls short” of what is needed to prevent job losses.

General secretary Frances O’Grady said: “Mass unemployment is the biggest threat facing the UK. Struggling businesses need more than a one-off job retention bonus to survive in the long run.

“The more people we have in decent work, the faster we can move out of recession.”

A report from the Office for Budget Responsibility, the UK’s spending watchdog, predicts that 1.3 million furloughed workers may lose their jobs once the scheme ends.

Furthermore, different figures show around 26,200 people in North Yorkshire had applied to the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme by the end of June.

A Treasury spokesman said applications for the final grant will remain open until October 19, making it “among the most generous schemes in the world”.

“Many self-employed people will benefit from the jobs created through the Plan for Jobs,” he added.