Mr. Declan Hughes:

Some of the schemes, such as the EWSS, have glide paths set out. It will always be difficult to synchronise them in a situation where there are job openings and opportunities. We see this in the retail and wholesale sector, for example, where employment is now above 2019 levels and we have shortages in that sector. We know there will probably be demand over the Christmas period for between 5,000 and 10,000 people. However, we still have significant numbers on the PUP. As of 2 November, there were 12,000 in the wholesale and retail sector who remained on the PUP.

As I mentioned, there are options. We need to work with businesses to ensure they can take back the people who were previous employees, and a total of 60% are going back to their previous employer. A total of 12% have stayed in the sector. People can also move to other sectors where there are other opportunities. There are different glide paths and closure dates. The EWSS, which is an employment support, will continue to the end of March. There were 288,000 people in this scheme in October. It is a key support for employers and individuals with regard to getting back to work.

With regard to people who have come off the PUP in recent weeks, the key point is to maintain what has been opened up and the jobs that were restored. People went back to work in August, September, October and November and there was a particular level of activity. It is about trying to sustain these jobs over the coming weeks and months. We may not get the uplift that might have occurred in 2017, 2018 or 2019 in the Christmas period. Many operators seem to be talking about trying to level it out so there is continued business into January and February. I mentioned the prospect of going back to having 488,000 people in the scheme, which we had last spring. It is something weighing heavily on us all. We want to ensure we can keep the economy open and have job opportunities. Certainly there are significant job openings and opportunities throughout the economy.