Reboot furlough to save jobs in sectors hit by Plan B
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.”
- 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 |
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