For Rishi Sunak, ending furlough scheme will be harder than starting it
by Larry Elliott from on (#53BXT)
Government support during lockdown has been a big success - but some workers may still lose their jobs in autumn
Judged by its original aim, the government's furlough scheme has been a massive success. Almost a million businesses have taken advantage of the Treasury's offer to pay 80% of the wages of laid-off workers up to a maximum of 2,500 a month.
Rishi Sunak has said a total of 7.5m jobs are covered by his job retention scheme, and even allowing for the fact that some people have more than one job, it is probably the case that more than a quarter of the UK's 27 million employees are being covered.
Related: UK seeks to borrow 225bn to fund huge surge in public spending
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