Statistics reveal that 14.5 million jobs and individuals have been supported by the Government since the COVID-19 pandemic and one year on from the introduction of its ‘plan for jobs'.

Announced on 8 July 2020, the blueprint was originally costed at around £30 billion, being made up of initiatives like the kickstart scheme, job retention bonus and eat out to help out scheme.

Since then, the furlough scheme and self-employed income support scheme (SEISS) effectively became part of the plan for jobs, supporting 11.6 million and 2.8m jobs respectively, according to Government statistics.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak said:

"We made a plan for jobs, we stuck to that plan and it's working - supporting more than 14.5 million jobs to date and helping people gain the skills they need to get back into work.

"We know the job is not yet done and our economy needs to recover - which is why we are continuing our support to give everyone the best chance of moving on from this crisis."

Critics lambasted how the plan "excluded" over around 3.8 million taxpayers from support, however, including people who didn't earn at least 50% from self employment prior to the pandemic and company directors who used to pay themselves with dividends, and therefore never qualified for SEISS grants.

A Treasury spokesperson said to campaigners:

"While we acknowledge it has not been possible to support everyone in the way they might want, our schemes were designed to target support at those who need it most".

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