PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Redundancy: Coronavirus (30 December 2020)

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the number of employees made redundant from companies who have been in receipt of financial support from the public purse during the covid-19 outbreak.

Asked by:
Nadia Whittome (Labour)

An estimate of the number of employees made redundant from companies receiving financial support during the COVID-19 outbreak is not available.

HMRC publish experimental monthly estimates of payrolled employees and their pay from Pay As You Earn (PAYE) Real Time Information (RTI) data (jointly with the ONS): https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/bulletins/earningsandemploymentfrompayasyouearnrealtimeinformationuk/previousReleases.

On 22 October HMRC published secondary analysis which matched CJRS and PAYE Real RTI data. This showed that 90% of employees who left the CJRS furlough scheme between April and July were still on their original payroll in August, suggesting they remained working for their original employer. This analysis does not distinguish between employees who have chosen to leave their jobs and those who have been made redundant. There are many other reasons that people leave, for example to start a new role, retirement, or to enter full time education. The secondary analysis can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-job-retention-scheme-statistics-secondary-analysis/coronavirus-job-retention-scheme-statistics-secondary-analysis-of-ended-furloughs

Answered by:
Jesse Norman (Conservative)
11 January 2021