More than quarter of Borders workforce now on furlough, statistics reveal

Statistics issued by HM Revenue and Customs for June show that 14,500 members of the region’s near 55,000-strong workforce were being paid four-fifths of their wages via the UK Government’s coronavirus job retention scheme.

That’s up from 12,800 last month, taking the proportion of employees furloughed from 23% to 26.5%, though many will have returned to work this month, or be about to, as the Scottish Government continues its phased loosening of the Covid-19 lockdown laws introduced in March, allowing the likes of pubs, restaurants, hotels and hair salons to reopen this week.

They’re among 736,500 employees across Scotland having 80% of their wages paid via the furlough scheme announced in March by UK chancellor of the exchequer Rishi Sunak and due to run until the end of October.

That’s up by more than 100,000 nationwide since the end of May.

On top of that, 155,000 Scots, including 4,900 Borderers, picked up payouts averaging £2,900, though that figure was £100 higher here, via the accompanying self-employment income support scheme.

That ongoing help to keep jobs open for thousands of Borderers as hundreds of others face redundancy as offices, shops and factories close across the region has been welcomed by Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk MP John Lamont and Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire MSP Rachael Hamilton.

Mr Lamont said: “The figures are staggering.

“It really shows the difficulties our economy would have been in had this support from the UK Government not been forthcoming.

“Almost 30% of employees in the Scottish Borders have been furloughed.

“The unprecedented challenges of coronavirus have been met with an unprecedented package of support from the broad shoulders of the UK Government.

“Don’t get me wrong – I know there are many challenges ahead, including keeping people in work after these schemes have come to an end.

“That’s why I very much welcome the £1,000 bonus for those companies who can keep their employees in work long term.”

Mrs Hamilton said: “The UK Government has supported almost 900,000 jobs in Scotland so far through an unprecedented package of UK-wide coronavirus assistance.

“Further to this, an extra £4.6bn was allocated to the Scottish Government for coronavirus funding.

“The chancellor, Rishi Sunak, has saved many hundreds of thousands of jobs here in Scotland, and it just shows how important being part of the United Kingdom is to Scotland.

“Let me be clear that an independent Scotland would not have had the resources to deal with this crisis and many more jobs would have been lost.

“Now we must focus minds on rebuilding the economy, and I welcome earlier UK Government announcements on massive infrastructure investment and the ‘eat out to help out’ scheme to help hospitality businesses.”

The next release of official statistics, for July, is scheduled for Friday, August 21.

Teenagers are more likely than older colleagues to have been furloughed during the coronavirus outbreak, June’s figures show.

Girls aged 17 account for the biggest proportion of those furloughed, at 61%, with boys of the same age not far behind on 58%.

Just 23% of women aged between 41 and 58 have been furloughed, by way of contrast, with the lowest rate for men being 28% for those aged 41 to 49.

Altogether, 9.4 million employees across the UK were on furlough in June at a cost to the UK treasury of £26.5bn.

Employers offering accommodation or food services have furloughed the most staff, with 87% taking advantage of the job retention scheme, accounting for 73% of their combined payroll.

For both men and women, take-up of the furlough scheme drops away sharply between the ages of 20 and 30, falling from 46% to 32% for the former and from 47% to 27% for the latter.

South Lakeland in Cumbria is the local authority area with the highest proportion of workers furloughed, at 40.5%, followed by Eden, also in Cumbria, on 39%, and Boston in Lincolnshire has the lowest proportion, 19.5%, followed by another Cumbrian patch, Copeland, on 22.2%.

The furlough scheme will start to be scaled back next month, with firms due to begin contributing to its cost then, and it will be wrapped up in October.