Political and trade union leaders in Newham are calling for urgent action to deal with massive job losses that are expected when the government’s extended furlough programme and the second Covid lockdown comes to an end.

The furlough programme has supported more than 54,000 local workers– the highest concentration of furloughed employees in Britain.

Sam Gurney, Regional Secretary of the Trades Union Congress, TUC, for London East and South East, said a “tidal wave of job losses is coming” and the crisis will intensify in places like Newham where job insecurity and zero hours working is a fact of life for thousands of residents.

Gurney’s fears are borne out in a report from the Resolution Foundation which on October 28 reported that around one in five of young workers, aged from 18 to 24, who were furloughed during lockdown were out of a job in September.

The number of furloughed workers in London is higher than any other region of the UK with more than a million workers receiving support, with West Ham alone having the country’s highest concentration of furloughed workers at 29,300.

When the second lockdown ends in December, a wave of new applications for welfare and jobless support are expected.

According to the Office for National Statistics figures for May this year West Ham has seen the largest year on year increase in benefit claims in London, with 8,905 claims, followed by Tottenham and then East Ham with 7,600, making a total of 16,505 across the Borough of Newham.

The figure is likely to rise sharply as the furlough scheme ends.

Sam Gurney said that new lockdown measures will have an enormous impact on the lives of working people.

He said: “Firms which are hit by stricter local restrictions but can stay open need a more generous short-time working scheme, with significantly reduced employer contributions. And there needs to be extra help for the overlooked self-employed too.”

As a minimum, he said the Government needs to “get a grip on its chaotic test and trace system and pay a living wage of sick pay to everyone self-isolating.”

Meanwhile, he said:

“More support for local businesses and fixing the social safety net are key to solving the immediate problem.”

This article is amended from our print edition which was printed before the government’s sudden reversal of policy and introduction of a new lockdown

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