Over 600,000 hospitality jobs still furloughed on 31 October

Official figures show that 601,400 jobs in the hospitality sector were still being supported by the furlough scheme when it was originally due to come to an end on 31 October.

Of the eligible workforce in accommodation and foodservices, 27% was being paid through the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS), the highest of the 15 largest sectors recorded by HMRC.

In comparison, there were 356,400 jobs in wholesale and retail still supported by the CJRS, 188,200 in manufacturing, 130,700 in construction and 159,600 in the arts and entertainment industries.

The accommodation and foodservices industry had claimed £6.9b through the scheme by the end of October, second only to wholesale and retail, which claimed almost £8b.

Furlough was originally due to end on 31 October, but was extended after England's second national lockdown was announced. The chancellor said yesterday the scheme would run until the end of April 2021.

This week, data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed a third of all jobs lost since February this year were from the hospitality industry.

The data was based on claims submitted to HMRC from the UK's largest 15 industries.

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