Publication of companies claiming furlough money is a welcome move

HMRC has published a list of more than 741 000 companies who were claiming furlough grant in December 2020.

The coronavirus job retention scheme (CJRS) has supported 9.6 million jobs and at its peak in May about 30% of the UK’ workforce was furloughed across 1.2m employers. Of these around a third were companies with 250 or more employees.

Welcoming the publication Susan Ball partner in employer solutions at RSM said: ‘The current figure of about 700 000 claimants indicates a drop of around half a million employers claiming since its peak. This is partly due to some larger companies no longer needing to claim the grant and many of these have now paid the money back. The reduction in the number of companies claiming also suggests that the chancellor’s plan to publish the names of those using the scheme...