Almost £20bn of claims have been made in respect of furloughed workers ahead of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme closing to new applicants

New 'management information' also highlights that more than 2.5m claims have been made to the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme

Ahead of the closure of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) to new applicants, almost £20 billion of claims have been in respect of furloughed workers according to new government 'management information'.

With the Chancellor Rishi Sunak having confirmed last week that the CJRS will close to new entrants on 30 June 2020 - and that therefore claims from July onwards will be restricted to employers currently using the scheme and previously furloughed employees - the new figures show that £19.6 billion of claims had been made by 7 June 2020 in respect of 8.9 million jobs. 

NB - the new figures also outline that, again by 7 June 2020, 2.6 million claims had been made to the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme with a total value of £7.5 billion.

For more information see HMRC coronavirus (COVID-19) statistics from gov.uk

Stop press (11 June 2020) - the government has today issued new Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme statistics: June 2020 and Self-Employment Income Support Scheme statistics: June 2020.