Without government action UK will ‘face mass unemployment’

The UK faces a ticking time bomb as the government schemes that have propped up businesses through the pandemic are slowly rolled back, potentially ripping the carpet from underneath some vulnerable firms and causing thousands to lose their jobs, experts have warned.

Charities and the opposition called on the government to help those who are bound to lose their jobs as a wave of bankruptcies hit the country.

It followed the news more than 600,000 UK workers lost their jobs during lockdown, with worse likely to come.

Labourshadowworkand pensions secretary Jonathan Reynolds warned that without government action, the UK is on course to “face mass unemployment on a scale not seen for decades”.

He added: “There must be urgent action from the government to assist the hardest-hit regions and specific support for sectors particularly exposed to the nature of the Covid crisis. It must prevent additional unemployment, support those who become unemployed and enable the creation of new jobs.”

Experts said the true extent of Britain’s unemployment has been hidden behind the government’s furlough scheme, which pays up to 80 per cent of workers’ salaries if they are sent home during the pandemic.

Dame Gillian Guy, the chief executive of Citizens Advice, said that one person was calling its helplines every two minutes with an issue arising from redundancy.

Business groups said the government must focus its efforts on keeping companies alive so they can continue to employ people.

Matthew Percival, from the Confederation of British Industry, said British workers need to be retrained for the jobs of the future.