Almost 3million people will be out of work by Christmas as furlough ends

Chancellor Rishi Sunak Job Retention Scheme ends on 31 October which will see almost 3,000,000 people unemployed this Christmas.

The Centre for Economic and Business Research (CEBR) warned that businesses will lay off a third of their furloughed staff come the end of October.

The think-tank has predicted that “The low-skills, low-pay sectors which are particularly affected by this crisis [eg hospitality] will not make extensive use of this.

“The scheme is, therefore, unlikely to prevent a major loss of jobs.”

CEBR used data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) which calculated that more than 1,500,000 further people will be laid off by Christmas.

The think-tank warned that the total number of unemployed will rest just under 3,000,000, with an unemployment rate of 8.5%.

The CEBR added, with the “expected announcement of a tiered furlough scheme for businesses affected by the new lockdown should go some way to prevent further job losses, though the coming winter looks set to be a tough one.”