Almost 80,000 Scots back to work on part-time furlough

Almost 80,000 Scottish workers went back to work part-time after the introduction of flexible furlough, it has emerged.

Alister Jack has hailed the success of the scheme

Shops, offices, restaurants and factories saw staff return after the scheme began at the start of July aimed at giving businesses the flexibility to bring employees back part-time.

A total of 78,400 Scots returned to the workplace as part of the programme which sees the government continuing to pay 80% of wages for the hours not worked.

Scottish Secretary Alister Jack said: "People in Scotland are coming off full-time furlough and getting back into work.

“Our jobs schemes have supported people while they were unable to work, kept them connected to their employer, and are now helping them get back to work – flexibly where that is appropriate.

“The UK Government is currently supporting nearly half a million jobs in Scotland, down from a high of more than 930,000 at the end of July. That is really good news, as it means that people are getting back to work.”

Chancellor Rishi Sunak said figures illustrate the "success" of the furlough scheme.

“That so many businesses have been able to get back to trading, and bring their staff back to the workplace is a testament to the impact the scheme has had,” he said.

UK-wide figures today showed that one million people have now come off furlough in retail and wholesale. It dropped from 1.85 million at the height of the pandemic to 789,000 by the end of July.

A total of 9.6 million jobs have been supported through the Job Retention Scheme.

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