Working from home has made a comeback in the Civil Service since Keir Starmer's Labour came to power, with attendance at 13 Government departments falling while the private sector goes in the opposite direction.
The former boss of Waitrose, Lord Price, has blamed lockdowns for annihilating the will of many Britons to go to work. Many workers are now fixated on maximising sick pay and doing as little as possible.
Furlough didn’t save millions of jobs – its true costs are only now becoming clear, says Fraser Nelson. "The £70bn scheme led to a welfare crisis, not a jobs recovery."
Between generous loan schemes with little or no anti-fraud checks and rampant welfare fraud, the UK Government is estimated to have lost over £37bn to fraud during the pandemic.
One Covid loan claimant gambled away £50,000, while another used part of a £35,000 loan to pay for garden improvements. Overall, it's estimated the taxpayer has lost £15 billion to "fraud and error".
Pubs, restaurants and leisure businesses hit by omicron will be eligible for one-off grants of £6,000 in a Christmas aid package announced by Rishi Sunak earlier today. Hospitality bosses say it's too little, too late.
An inquiry into the deaths of 50 residents in a Melbourne care home has unveiled that existing staff were furloughed, depriving the elderly residents of the basic care they needed.
One in 16 U.K. firms could close in the next quarter, according to a new study that suggests a million jobs are at risk as lockdown support schemes come to an end.
50,000 more young people are already out of work compared to pre-lockdown levels, and the IFS says that a further 350,000 people aged 19 to 24 could lose their jobs in the coming months as the furlough scheme winds down.
The Government is "open minded" about extending the furlough scheme, according to Michael Gove. Gove says that high spending in response to Covid will stay in place to help the country "build back better".
