Time is right to end furlough scheme, say Brits

Matthew SmithHead of Data Journalism
September 28, 2021, 3:18 PM GMT+0

Most Britons see the scheme as a success

With the furlough scheme set to come to an end on 30 September, a new YouGov study finds that the majority of the public agree with the government that it is time to wrap up the programme.

Approaching six in ten Britons (58%) say that the furlough scheme should not be extended past this deadline. Only one in five (20%) disagree, including 32% of 18-24 year olds and 27% of Labour voters.

While the government has come in for much criticism for its handling of the pandemic, most Britons (59%) consider the furlough scheme to have been a success. A further 26% consider it to have been neither a success nor a failure; only 7% think it has outright failed.

This puts the policy second only to the vaccine rollout on the list of pandemic policies we asked about. Fully 83% of Britons consider the vaccination programme to have been a success, with a mere 4% thinking the opposite.