Almost one million in limbo as furlough ends

The government’s Furlough scheme ends on 30 September with nearly one million workers still expected to be on the scheme at the end of the month.

It is unclear how many of those still were relying on it for all of their income, but many forecasters, including the Bank of England, are expecting a small rise in unemployment as the scheme ends.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak has said that now was the right time to close the near £70 billion scheme, despite calls for further support from some badly-hit companies.

Furlough was introduced in March 2020 and helped pay the wages of 11.6 million workers after the coronavirus pandemic forced large parts of the UK economy to close. Officially known as the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, it saw the government pay towards the wages of people who could not work, or whose employers could no longer afford to pay them, up to a monthly limit of £2,500.

Chief secretary to the Treasury Simon Clarke told the BBC's Today programme: "We think there are probably two million fewer people unemployed than would have been the case if this scheme hadn't been introduced. I think it's done an enormous amount to shield our economy and our society from the worst of Covid."