Cumulative number of jobs furloughed under the job retention scheme UK 2020-2021

By the end of the UK's job retention scheme, which ran from April 2020, to September 2021, approximately 11.7 million jobs, from 1.3 million different employers, were furloughed in the United Kingdom. The day with the most jobs furloughed at once was May 8, 2020, when 8.86 million jobs were on the job retention scheme. The scheme, introduced in response to the economic damage caused by the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, covered 80 percent of an employees' usual monthly wage, up to 2,500 British pounds a month. How much did the scheme cost?The UK government spent approximately 70 billion British pounds on the job retention scheme. Due to spending commitments such as this, as well as depressed revenue sources, UK government finances took a severe hit in the 2020/21 financial year. Government borrowing was approximately 333 billion pounds in 2020/21, while government debt as a share of GDP shot up from 80.3 percent in 2018/19, to 96.5 percent by 2020/21. Getting this debt down has proven difficult in subsequent financial years, with high inflation, war in Ukraine, and Cost of Living Crisis putting even more pressure on public finances. Popular scheme may not be enough to save SunakThe current Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, held the position of Chancellor of the Exchequer throughout the duration of the furlough scheme. While this scheme and Sunak himself were popular for much of that time, Sunak has since seen his popularity tumble. Shortly after succeeding Liz Truss as Prime Minister in October 2021, Sunak was seen by 30 percent of people as being the best person for his job, while his net favorability rating was around -19 percent. By May 2024, just before he announced the 2024 general election, just 19 percent of people thought he made the best Prime Minister, and his net favorability rating had fallen to -51 percent.

截至2020年4月至2021年9月英国就业保留计划结束之际，该计划覆盖了从130万家不同雇主处被休假的大约1170万个工作岗位。其中，2020年5月8日当天一次性休假的工作岗位最多，达到8.86百万。为应对由新型冠状病毒（COVID-19）大流行造成的经济损失，该计划覆盖了雇员通常月工资的80%，最高可达每月2500英镑。该计划的总成本是多少？英国政府在就业保留计划上花费了大约700亿英镑。由于此类支出承诺以及收入来源的低迷，英国政府在2020/21财年遭受了严重的财政打击。2020/21财年政府借款约为3330亿英镑，而政府债务占GDP的比例从2018/19年的80.3%激增至2020/21年的96.5%。在随后的财年中，降低债务的难度加大，高通胀、乌克兰战争以及生活成本危机进一步加剧了公共财政的压力。受欢迎的计划可能不足以拯救苏纳克。现任首相里希·苏纳克在整个休假计划期间担任财政大臣。尽管该计划和苏纳克本人在此期间颇受欢迎，但苏纳克的支持率此后有所下降。他在2021年10月接替丽莎·特拉斯担任首相后不久，有30%的人认为他是最佳人选，而他的净好感度评分为约-19%。到2024年5月，在宣布2024年大选之前，只有19%的人认为他是最佳首相，而他的净好感度评分已降至-51%。