Government unable to supply specific figure for higher education institutions
More than 213,000 people working in education have been furloughed as a result of the coronavirus outbreak, the government has said.
In a written parliamentary response, universities minister Michelle Donelan said that as of 31 May, some 20,800 employers across education as a whole—including schools, colleges and universities—had furloughed a total of 213,400 employees. She added that it was “not possible to disaggregate higher education staff from these figures”.
The government’s figures show that the total value of furlough claims made in education as a whole is £363 million.
According to the Office for National Statistics, 3.5 million people were employed in education in the first quarter of 2020, meaning roughly 6 per cent may have been furloughed.
“As both my right honourable friends the prime minister and chancellor of the exchequer have made clear, the government will do whatever it takes to support people affected by Covid-19,” Donelan said.
She was responding on 1 July to a question tabled by shadow universities minister Emma Hardy.
The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, designed to support the salaries of workers who would otherwise have been laid off during the pandemic, was updated on 1 July and no new applicants can now join. The amount of government financial support will be phased out between now and when the scheme ends on 31 October.
The British Universities Finance Directors Group has published a summary of the changes, which is available to member institutions online.