Government paying wages of 1.5m construction workers

Government schemes to support firms and self-employed workers hit by the covid-19 pandemic have paid the wages of nearly 1.5m construction workers, according to new data from HM Revenue and Customs.

The introduction of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) for furloughed employees and the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) has seen the Treasury fork out £4.6bn to construction workers by the end of last month.

Of the 1.5m workers, 46% were supported by the government furlough scheme and 54% were supported by a parallel scheme for the self-employed.

Construction has the largest proportion of firms to have furloughed staff out of all sectors, with 48% of firms.

And the sector has the third highest proportion of its workforce furloughed, at 40.5%. Only the arts and entertainment and accommodation and food services sectors have furloughed a greater percentage.

It is not known what proportion of the claimants for the support schemes work in the residential construction sector, however residential construction has been hardest hit part of the sector in terrms of site closures. According to data from Barbour ABI, residential schemes have accounted for well over half of jobs put on hold.

In addition to construction workers paid under the schemes, HMRC said it was also paying the wages of more than 130,000 people in the wider property industry. 

So far, the total value of claims made on the CJRS across all sectors is £19.6bn, with a further £7.5bn of claims made on the SEISS.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak (pictured) announced last month that the CJRS would stop at the end of October this year, with the SEISS offering a second and final grant of up to £6,750 to self-employed workers in August.