According to a new survey, almost one in three UK firms will cut jobs in October – when the furlough scheme is set to end.
The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) and Adecco Group surveyed over 2,000 employers, including companies, charities and public sector bodies and found that about 33% planned to make redundancies in October.
The poll has highlighted the new wave of job losses that the UK will face when the scheme, where the government has been paying 80% of furloughed workers’ wages, comes to an end.
Gerwyn Davies, the senior labor market adviser at the CIPD, said: “Until now, redundancies have been low — no doubt due to the Job Retention Scheme — but we expect to see more redundancies come through this autumn, especially in the private sector once the scheme closes. This will likely be accompanied by a pay squeeze for workers, which is actually to be welcomed to help preserve jobs. This looks set to be a somber autumn.”
The UK has already faced many job losses since the Coronavirus pandemic, across many sectors. Many of the UK’s largest employers have already announced cuts. Easyjet, Boots and John Lewis have announced wide-scale job cuts to the UK staff and it is estimated that UK firms have cut a total of 100,000 jobs amid the pandemic.