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It’s something we are all hoping won’t come to pass, but organisations cannot ignore the threat of a second round of COVID-19 restrictions this winter. Already, several UK towns and cities have been placed into local lockdown, and even if we avoid another national quarantine experts have warned that this is unlikely to be our final global pandemic.

Throughout the pandemic, there has been a huge volume of publicly available data and statistics on the coronavirus – rate of infection, number of lives lost, jobs furloughed, businesses closed, the list goes on. Because this is a global concern, there can sometimes be conflicting numbers, which can lead to confusion and lack of trust.

On the 20th March 2020, the Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced his plan to save millions of UK jobs – the Coronavirus Jobs Retention Scheme (CJRS). Though it was by no means a cover all for everyone, the scheme has generally been praised for its generosity and innovation. As of 30th June, 9.4 million workers have been placed on furlough and employers have claimed £25.6 billion in wages.

The coronavirus outbreak and lockdown restrictions have presented challenges for everyone. As recruiters, many of us have been fortunate enough to continue working from home and, though adjusting to new ways of working is not easy, we are privileged to be able to carry on working.