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The TUC has called for Treasury support to protect jobs, and for the sick pay system to be fixed to reduce spread of Omicron, in response to today’s announcement of ‘plan B’ restrictions.

The union body highlights that when a work from home instruction was last in place in June 2021, nearly two million jobs were protected by furlough, including nearly half of in the jobs in hospitality that were eligible for furlough. [see table below for full data].

TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady said:

“Requiring people to work from home over the busy Christmas period will hit jobs – unless ministers bring back furlough. Cleaners, receptionists, conference and banqueting staff and hospitality and retail workers will be short of work if people don’t come into offices.

“Ministers must reassure workers in hard-hit sectors like hospitality, leisure and travel that their livelihoods are secure.

“Furlough was the great success in the first response to the pandemic. The rise of the Omicron variant shows why the UK needs a permanent short-time working scheme – ready to go when a new crisis hits.

“If we’re serious about stopping Omicron, ministers must fix our broken sick pay system, so every worker gets a decent amount to live off if they are sick or have to self-isolate. That’s how we make sure people can follow the rules and stop the spread.”

Editors note

- Furlough rates under previous work from home instruction: There is no prior period of the pandemic with restrictions that exactly mirror today’s plan B announcement. June 2021 – the final full month before the work from home instruction ended in July 2021 – is the closest for comparison. But it should be noted that rules in place at that time also limited socialising to 6 people or 2 households indoors, or 30 people outdoors; and some businesses such as night clubs were still not able to open.

Official figures for 30 June 2021 show that employers received furlough support for 1,901,200 jobs. Of these 47% jobs were on flexible furlough while working short hours.

The table below gives the breakdown by sector, including the overall number of furloughed jobs in each sector, and the proportion of eligible jobs furloughed .

Sector

Take-up rate

Number of workers

Accommodation and food services

45%

355,800

Arts, entertainment and recreation

40%

100,100

Manufacturing

34%

181,500

Wholesale and retail; repair of motor vehicles

34%

272,500

Transportation and storage

33%

139,400

Other service activities

33%

85,400

Administrative and support services

32%

194,000

Education

31%

55,600

Water supply, sewerage and waste

30%

5,600

Real estate

29%

33,300

Construction

25%

130,800

Professional, scientific and technical

25%

162,700

Energy production and supply

23%

1,000

Health and social work

22%

72,500

Information and communication

21%

66,700

Mining and quarrying

19%

900

Finance and insurance

19%

18,200

Agriculture, forestry and fishing

9%

6,900

Public administration and defence; social security

3%

2,800

Households

2%

1,400

Unknown and other

NA

13,900

Total

28%

1,901,200

 

Guarantee sick pay for every worker Nearly 2 million UK workers do not qualify for statutory sick pay
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