The latest figures on the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme and unemployment claimant count data have been released, providing additional information on how the economic impact of the current pandemic is playing out across the country. There are three main points to take away from these releases for the largest cities and towns in the country, according to a new report by Centre for Cities.

1. The number of claims for the Job Retention Scheme has continued to rise, with great disparities in take-up across the country.
HMRC revealed that, as of the last day of June, approximately 9.4m workers in the UK have been placed on furlough, up by 678,000 compared to the same time in May. Despite the reopening of non-essential shops and the relaxation of some lockdown rules, over the last month, every city and large town has seen new claims for the take-up of the scheme. In 12 cities, the increase corresponded to over 5% of the population eligible for the scheme, with Swindon and Slough seeing the largest increases.

The percentage point change in claims for the scheme tended to be higher in places where take-up is highest, but with some exceptions. Bristol, Oxford and Cambridge for example saw above average increases in claims in the last month, but continue to have a relatively lower level of people on the scheme. In contrast, in Blackpool, Hull and Wigan, claims increased less quickly than the city average, but these places are still among the most reliant on the scheme.

As a result, the share of overall workers supported by the Job Retention Scheme since March in Crawley (37.5%) is much higher than in Cambridge (22.6%), with Burnley, Birmingham and Blackpool also having high levels of take up for the Job Retention Scheme.

In contrast, in Reading, Oxford and Peterborough fewer businesses are making use of the scheme. If predictions made by the Bank of England economist, Andy Haldane, at the end of June are correct, then the UK will see a V-shaped recovery and it will most likely be seen in these cities first.