WITH the furlough scheme ending today, the future of many people’s work in Bradford is uncertain, with thousands still on the scheme at the last count.

The Government has ended its Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, which paid furloughed workers 80 per cent of their salary throughout the pandemic to avoid mass unemployment and companies going bust when workplaces closed last March due to Covid-19.

Ministers have hailed the scheme a “job well done”, with £70 billion being spent supporting 11.6 million workers over the past 18 months.

However, experts have said that autumn is set to be “bumpy” for Britain with the end of furlough coinciding with rising energy bills and the end of the Universal Credit £20 uplift.

At the last count of furloughed workers, on July 31, there were still 11,500 people on furlough in Bradford, official HM Revenue and Custom figures show.

This accounts for roughly one in 17 of all workers eligible for furlough in the district, but is a drop of almost two-thirds from the 2021 peak in February of 30,800.

Most people still furloughed in Bradford are aged 30 to 39, accounting for a quarter of the figures, and 60 per cent of those on furlough were men.

Most furloughed workers - 2,220 - were in wholesale or retail, including vehicle engineers, with hospitality (accommodation and food services) next highest on 1,760, followed by 1,570 on furlough in manufacturing.

Think tank The Resolution Foundation said while it expects most of the roughly one million workers still on furlough to return to their jobs, hundreds of thousands of people will be looking for new jobs in October, with older workers most at risk of unemployment.

Dan Tomlinson, senior economist at the foundation, said: “Furlough has been critical to fighting the Covid crisis.

“The scheme has prevented the UK experiencing catastrophic levels of unemployment and has been worth every penny.

“Hundreds of thousands more workers will be looking for work this autumn and older workers in particular face the risk of unemployment and early retirement as they are most likely to still be on furlough.

“Record levels of job vacancies should hopefully mean this mass job search is relatively short-term, but Britain is set for a bumpy autumn as the end of furlough coincides with rising energy bills and the £20 a week cut to Universal Credit.”

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