Covid-19 has changed the employment landscape forever

Covid-19 has catalysed the decline in full time employment, with 9.6 million furlough claims made since April. At one point, four out of five hospitality workers were put on furlough and by June more than half of under-25s had been put on furlough or had been made redundant. COVID-19 has caused the destruction of industries which rely on traditional volume employers.

For almost eight uncertain months, the furlough scheme has provided financial safety for both businesses and employees during the latest economic crisis. And whilst the furlough scheme extension is welcome, for many employers and employees it is delaying the inevitable. This false sense of financial and job security will make the upcoming months even more difficult as mass redundancies are pushed into the new year and sadly, we predict we’ll see well over three million people unemployed when the scheme ends.

While the future of permanent work remains uncertain, there is real hope in the form of flexible working. Over the years, the temporary labour market has proved vital for several industries, from construction to hospitality, with one in seven UK workers now on flexible contracts. The use of flexible workers has spread widely to other industries, with the second largest group of contractors operating in ‘professional, scientific and technical’ activities with 610,000 UK workers. There is an obvious move from the traditional PAYE model to a more dynamic form of payment and taxation for labour. […]

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