Shetland’s furlough figure drops to around 600 – the lowest in the UK

The restrictions of Covid-19 forced many business to close and furlough staff. 

The number of Shetland workers currently furloughed is “the lowest in the UK , by quite a margin”, according to a leading council official.

The SIC’s development director Neil Grant said the latest figures indicated “just over 600” workers were still furloughed across the isles – down from 3,000 when the scheme was first introduced.

Speaking at Tuesday’s Association of Shetland Community Councils (ASCC) meeting, Mr Grant said that while many workers were still affected, he expected much of the economy to return to normality during the post-pandemic renewal.

“I think it reflects the point that many of the businesses in Shetland have kept going and being in level three has really helped that,” he said.

“So that bodes reasonably well going forward.”

Mr Grant also reported that while the number of people receiving Universal Credit had doubled from around 300-600 at the start of the pandemic, the figure had remained “fairly static” in recent months.