Official Statistics

Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme statistics: secondary analysis of ended furloughs

Published 22 October 2020

1. Main findings

90% of employees who left the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (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 is based on HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) data for CJRS and Pay As You Earn (PAYE) Real Time Information (RTI) up to 31 August 2020.

According to HMRC’s analysis, this headline has the following variations across:

• sectors, ranging from 84% in ‘Other service activities’ to 97% in ‘Public administration and defence’
• regions, ranging from 87% in London to 90%-91% widely across the UK
• gender, with 89% female and 91% male

This analysis does not distinguish between employees who have chosen to leave their jobs and those who have been made redundant.

2. Contact information

For queries or feedback on this publication, please contact:

• [email protected]
• [email protected]
• [email protected]
• [email protected]

For press queries, please contact:

• Dan Allen, tel: 03000 585 024
• Lisa Billard, tel: 07773 091 264

3. Details

3.1 Background

This standalone, secondary analysis uses CJRS and PAYE RTI data up to 31 August 2020 (first published on 18 September 2020 for CJRS and on 15 September 2020 for PAYE RTI). This release is classified as Experimental Statistics as the methodologies used to produce the statistics are still in their development phase. As a result, the data are subject to revision.

Of 4.3 million employments that were previously furloughed through CJRS and were no longer reported to be furloughed in the statistics published in September, 3.9 million were still on the same payroll in August, suggesting that for these 3.9 million employments, the individuals had returned to work with their original employer. This means that 90% of furloughs that are no longer claimed under CJRS were still on their employer’s payroll in August.

We only capture employments that remain on the same payroll from which the employee was furloughed and do not account for natural labour market churn, including where an employee has chosen to leave their job. Therefore, if an employee was furloughed and left payroll for any reason, and is now employed on a different PAYE scheme, that re-employment is not captured here.

For all tables, numbers are rounded to the nearest 1,000; figures and percentages may not sum to totals.

3.2 Previously furloughed employments remaining on payroll

Table 1. Number of furloughs ending by month

Last furloughed	Employments
March	14,000
April	403,000
May	1,393,000
June	2,500,000
Total	4,311,000

Table 1 shows the number of employments that were furloughed and then no longer reported as furloughed in subsequent months. For example, in May there were 1.4 million employments furloughed that were not furloughed in subsequent months, according to HMRC data on CJRS.

Table 2. Number of furloughs ending and then reported in the employer’s PAYE return in subsequent months

Last furloughed	March payroll	April payroll	May payroll	June payroll	July payroll	August payroll
March	14,000	12,000	11,000	10,000	10,000	10,000
April		403,000	375,000	356,000	349,000	340,000
May			1,393,000	1,336,000	1,294,000	1,259,000
June				2,500,000	2,386,000	2,262,000
Total	14,000	415,000	1,779,000	4,202,000	4,039,000	3,872,000

Table 2 shows what happened to people when their furloughs ended. For employments where the furlough ended in a particular month, the table shows the number of those furloughs on their original employer’s PAYE scheme, suggesting that they had returned to work with their employer. For example, of the 1.4 million employments where the furlough was last claimed in May, 1.3 million were still on their employer’s PAYE submission in June.

Table 3. Percentage of furloughs ending and then reported in the employer’s PAYE returns in subsequent months

Last furloughed	March payroll	April payroll	May payroll	June payroll	July payroll	August payroll
March	100%	86%	75%	73%	72%	70%
April		100%	93%	88%	87%	84%
May			100%	96%	93%	90%
June				100%	95%	90%

3.3 Previously furloughed employments remaining on payroll by sector, region and gender

Table 4. Previously furloughed employments on payroll in August by sector

Sector	Furloughs ended	Of which on payroll	Percentage
A. Agriculture, forestry and fishing	18,000	16,000	90%
B. Mining and quarrying	12,000	10,000	90%
C. Manufacturing	572,000	530,000	93%
D. Energy production and supply	16,000	14,000	93%
E. Water supply, sewerage and waste	25,000	23,000	91%
F. Construction	452,000	421,000	93%
G. Wholesale and retail; repair of motor vehicles	1,084,000	992,000	92%
H. Transportation and storage	207,000	191,000	92%
I. Accommodation and food services	576,000	491,000	85%
J. Information and communication	76,000	66,000	87%
K. Finance and insurance	30,000	26,000	88%
L. Real estate	78,000	72,000	92%
M. Professional, scientific and technical	238,000	211,000	89%
N. Administrative and support services	338,000	287,000	85%
O. Public administration and defence; social security	14,000	14,000	97%
P. Education	128,000	115,000	90%
Q. Health and social work	163,000	147,000	90%
R. Arts, entertainment and recreation	166,000	146,000	88%
S. Other service activities	94,000	79,000	84%
T. Households	5,000	4,000	85%
U. Unknown	21,000	17,000	80%

Table 5. Previously furloughed employments on payroll in August by region

Region	Furloughs ended	Of which on payroll	Percentage
South East	582,000	521,000	89%
London	541,000	471,000	87%
North West	484,000	437,000	90%
East of England	415,000	374,000	90%
West Midlands	410,000	371,000	91%
South West	379,000	340,000	90%
Yorkshire and The Humber	366,000	330,000	90%
East Midlands	348,000	314,000	90%
North East	174,000	158,000	91%
Scotland	322,000	293,000	91%
Wales	168,000	152,000	90%
Northern Ireland	122,000	111,000	91%

Table 6. Previously furloughed employments on payroll in August by gender

Gender	Furloughs ended	Of which on payroll	Percentage
Male	2,552,000	2,310,000	91%
Female	1,759,000	1,562,000	89%