Covid: About 500,000 redundancies are planned since the crisis began

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British employers planned 58,000 redundancies in ov gust, bringing the total to 498,000 in the first five months of the Covid crisis.

Some 966 separate employers told the government last August that they planned to cut 20 or more jobs, compared to 214, more than quadrupling.

However, the figures were below the levels seen in June and July, both of which saw job cuts.

The figures were released to the BBC following a Freedom of Information request.

The economy bounced back in the summer after an unprecedented economic downturn earlier this year, as workers were urged to return to office fees, and consumers were encouraged to spend more through schemes like Eat Out to help restaurant vouchers.

However many large industries in the hard-hit sector such as retail and rest restaurants rent announced major redundancy plans, including Debenhams, DW Sports, Marks & Spencer, Pratt A Manager, currency exchange company Travellex and WH Smith.

The 58,000 positions at risk in August Gust were significantly lower than in previous months, but up 1,150% from the previous year.

“There was a sense of optimism in August Gust, we started to see more spending and more activity, hoping for a quick recovery,” said Rebecca MacDonald, a senior economist at the Joseph Rowntry Foundation’s think tank. “It seems a lot less now.”

A government spokesman said: “Supporting jobs is a top priority, which is why we have set our plans for jobs to protect, create and support jobs in the UK.

“We’re helping employees get back through a 1,000 retention bonus, creating new roles for young people with our b 2bn kickstart plan and doubling the number of frontline work coaches.”

How will the end of the furlough scheme affect the redundancy?

There could be a massive summer rush by companies preparing to cut staff before the end of the Furlo scheme on October 31st.

The scheme, where the government pays a portion of workers’ wages when their employers cannot, has helped reduce the number of epidemiological irregularities. A total of 9.6 million jobs were disrupted.

But given that most redundancy processes take months to complete, companies planning significant layoffs by the end of the furlough would have had to notify the government over the summer.

Chancellor, Suni Sunak unveiled a new employment assistance scheme last month, where the government will subsidize the salaries of its employees who work less than their normal hours due to low demand.

It is less liberal than the Furlo plan, and the redundancy of data will give an early indication of how successful the next few months have been in securing employment.

“Many employers will make the difficult decision in the coming months. Given the design of the new plan, it looks like there will be a significant number of redundancies in the winter.” MC McDonald said.

“We are concerned that it will be the lowest paid workers in the hardest hit areas who will be most affected.”

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Employers are obliged to notify the government when they plan to make 20 or more staff redundants in any “establishment” using the HR1 advance notice of the redundancy form. However, they often make less than the number suggested at the beginning.

These figures add to the futile plans long before the long fee for redundancy figures that appear even after many months for the national statistics red fee.

ONS numbers showed 156,000 redundancies from May to July, up from 107,000 in the previous three months.

However, no redundancy process with less than 20 people appears in this figure so the final number is likely to be larger than the HR1 numbers indicate.

Companies in Northern Ireland file the HR1 form with the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency and are not included in this figure.

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