As of Sunday 21 June, 9.2 million workers have been furloughed by 1.1 million employers. In total, the value of claims under the government’s Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) stands at £22.9bn.

This is up from 9.1 million furloughed workers reported a week ago with employers claiming a total of £20.8bn to cover staff wages.

The furlough scheme will run until the end of October and from 1 July, there will be greater flexibility for the scheme, allowing employers to bring back furloughed employees part-time.

Meanwhile, claims made by self-employed workers who are struggling during the pandemic have remained at 2.6 million for the third week in a row.

The total value of claims made under the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme, which launched in May, also remains at £7.6bn.

A “second and final” grant will be available for self-employed workers from August.

This second grant will be payable at a level equivalent to 70% of the taxpayer’s annual average profits, capped at £2,190 per month, so the maximum amount payable will be £6,570 to cover three months.

Support for businesses

Separate figures from the Treasury show that more than £40bn has been given in loans to struggling businesses.

Under the Bounce Back Loan Scheme, more than 921,000 businesses have received £28.09bn in loans. As of 21 June, 1.1 million applications for the scheme had been submitted.

As part of the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme, £10.5bn has been approved to help more than 50,000 businesses, while 99,000 applications have been made under the scheme.

Turning to the Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Loan Scheme, the Treasury statistics revealed £2.1bn of loans have been approved for 315 businesses, though 709 applications have been received.