U.K. State Supporting Almost 12 Million Jobs Through Pandemic

(Bloomberg) --

About 200,000 workers were placed on the government’s furloughing program last week as employers took their last chance to use the plan before it closes to new entrants.

Combined with the self-employed, the jobs programs are now supporting 11.7 million jobs at a cost of more than 28 billion pounds ($35 billion). The furlough program will close to new entrants from June 30, from which point employers will only be able to furlough employees that they have been idled for a full three-week period prior to that date.

The government also announced an update on the uptake of its three lending plans to firms, which have now paid out more than 38 billion pounds.

Meanwhile, separate data from the Department of Work and Pensions showed the number of individuals making declarations for Universal Credit benefit claims ticked up slightly to 102,940 in the week of June 1, up from 96,510 the previous week. That leaves the total new claims since March 1 at 3.2 million.

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