Insight

Two in five plan redundancies after furlough ends

Our research for Bright Blue examines the experiences and expectations of businesses during the Covid-19 pandemic.

More than nine million workers have been furloughed through the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) for at least some time in the last three months, with the government paying 80% of their wages. But economic recovery is likely to be a long and bumpy road. Businesses are likely to be negatively affected for some time by efforts to contain the pandemic and weak consumer demand.

When the scheme comes to an end in October 2020, two in five (44%) organisations with staff on furlough say they will have to make some or all of their furloughed staff redundant.

Just under half (48%) using the furlough scheme expect to keep all furloughed staff on the payroll after the CJRS is pulled, while 31% expect to make some job cuts; 9% expect to lay off most furloughed staff; and 3% expect to make all furloughed employees redundant.

Read more here.