Furlough scheme hailed as a 'lifeline' in Portsmouth as more than 22,000 people made claims

Data from HM Revenue and Customs show around 22,800 claims were made to furloughed jobs in Portsmouth, which is equivalent to 1,061 in every 10,000 people.

The coronavirus job retention scheme was launched by government in March cover up to 80 per cent of an employee’s salary - capped at £2,500 a month.

Portsmouth City Council's economic development boss, Councillor Steve Pitt, explained without the scheme 'hundreds' of local businesses could have gone under. He said: 'I think it's absolutely clear without furlough support we would have seen hundreds of local businesses going bust, that would have been inevitable.

'That's not to say it's been a complete fix. That's why the retail and leisure grant, the small business grant and the discretionary grant have been so vital.

'If furlough pay is reduced by government it is expected that businesses will make up the shortfall but we don't know if they will all be able to.'

The council has devised a list of measures to encourage shopping in the city as non-essential shops are set to open on Monday.

He added: 'With more shops opening on the 15th we don't know how it will be for all businesses. Some will be fine. Businesses like jewellers that might only need five customers a day to make it worthwhile could be fine but those that rely on high footfall might struggle.

'It's not a pretty picture but it's impossible to predict what will happen.'

Across the south east, one million jobs were furloughed by the end of May. The latest UK-wide figure stood at 8.9 million as of June 7, amounting to £19.6 billion in payments.

Stef Nienaltowski, the chief executive of Shaping Portsmouth which aims to support local business, said: 'There are about 106,000 jobs in Portsmouth so this would suggest around 20 per cent are furloughed.

'Certainly the furlough scheme has helped so many small businesses I have spoken to. It's been a lifeline really. Some of them are putting staff on a rota so they're not furloughed the whole time. Another thing that's really important is keeping in touch with all the staff and checking up on their wellbeing.

'At Shaping Portsmouth we've furloughed two staff members. We've managed to top up the extra 20 per cent to make sure they're paid in full, but without the furlough scheme we would have had to have a hard look at our expenses to pay more.'

The data also showed 25,800 workers in Southampton were furloughed, with 12,700 in Fareham, 8,500 in Gosport and 13,700 in Havant.

Separate figures revealed around 8,400 people in Portsmouth applied to the self-employment income support scheme by the end of May, amounting to around £3,000 per person.

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