In March 2020, a few days before lockdown was introduced, the UK government launched the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, widely referred to as “furlough”. This scheme provided employees who were unable to work due to the pandemic with 80% of their pay (capped at £2,500 per month).
The purpose of the scheme was to keep people in jobs while their employers couldn’t necessarily afford to pay them. An estimated 25% of UK workers were furloughed at some point, with the number peaking at 8.9 million people in May 2020. Other countries ran similar schemes.
