Final days of Furlough - When does it end?

The Furlough scheme was launched in the early days of the pandemic as a way of ensuring that people could keep their jobs, and a portion of their income, even when the economy closed down.

It was intended to support those that were unable to work from home, the scheme would pay them up to 80% of their salaries. Since launching 18 months ago, close to 12 million jobs have been furloughed. The Government has paid a total of £68.5 billion to furloughed employees.

As the income support scheme now enters into its final days, it has been reported that the over-65s are now the most likely to be on furlough, with 8% of those eligible in the age group still on the scheme.

• Around 1.6 million people were still furloughed at the end of July, as the scheme started to wrap up, data shows.

• HM Revenue and Customs said that around 340,000 people moved off furlough during the month of July meaning fewer people are furloughed than at any point since the pandemic started.

• July was the first month that employers had to pay 10% of the salaries of their furloughed workers, giving them an incentive to bring staff back, or end their employment.

• Around 121,600 people between the ages of 18 and 34 were taken off the furlough scheme in June and July, the data showed.

The Furlough Scheme will come to a complete end on the final day of this month (30th September).