UK employment numbers suffer biggest fall for ten years as COVID continues to hit economy
Coronavirus continues to wreak havoc on the UK economy - with national employment falling by 220,000 between April and June; the biggest decrease seen since the financial crisis in 2009.
Coronavirus continues to wreak havoc on the UK economy – with national employment falling by 220,000 between April and June; the biggest quarterly decrease seen since the financial crisis of 2009.
According to The Office for National Statistics (ONS), the number of employees on payrolls around the country is down by around 730,000 from early Spring.
The ONS also estimated that 7.5 million were temporarily away from work in June, with around three million of those absent for three months or even longer.
Deepening fears is the fact that Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s furlough scheme – which was designed to support workers with 80% pay during the height of the pandemic – is set to end in October.
These latest reports will likely see more calls for the programme to be extended further.
ADVERTISEMENT
Sky News
The number of people currently on the British furlough scheme – 9.6 million according to Statista – may also be masking the true extent of unemployment in the country.
Those who have been most adversely affected by the financial crisis so far are younger and older people – as well as those working in low-paying roles.
ADVERTISEMENT
Jonathan Athow, Deputy National Statistician at the ONS, said: “The groups of people most affected are younger workers, 24 and under, or older workers and those in more routine or less skilled jobs.
“This is concerning, as it’s harder for these groups to find a new job or get into a job as easily as other workers.”
A number of high-profile businesses across the UK have been forced to make wide-scale redundancies due to the fallout from the global pandemic.
ADVERTISEMENT
The travel industry has been hit particularly hard – with British Airways, Ryanair and EasyJet all axing jobs.
The UK high street has also suffered, with the likes of M&S, NEXT, John Lewis, Topshop & Dorothy Perkins cutting staff numbers.
Restaurant groups have had to let team members go, too, with the likes of Upper Crust and and Pret slashing their payroll by thousands.
News
Police are searching for a missing bride-to-be, with CCTV from the day she vanished released
Daisy Jackson
Police have ramped up their appeal to find missing bride-to-be Eren Wright, releasing CCTV of her on the day she vanished.
Eren has been missing since 27 October, when she left her home address in Lytham St Annes.
Since then, her desperate fiancé has shared that her phone was last detected in Birkdale Southport at around 5.30pm that same day, and her bank accounts are empty.
He said last week in a post on Facebook: “Myself and the pets are freaking out not knowing where she is and if she is ok, she has been missing for nearly 12 hours.”
Eren was last seen just after 10am leaving her home on St David’s Road South.
She is described as white, 5’7″, slim, and with blonde hair. She also has tattoos of vines and a tree on her hand and arms.
Police have ramped up their appeal to find missing bride-to-be Eren Wright. Credit: Fylde Police
Eren was last seen wearing a light olive green hoodie with a painting on the front, beige/cream wide leg pants, and worn white trainers.
Police have now shared the new CCTV image of Eren in the hopes that someone might know where she is, or have seen her.
Fylde Police also said they were ‘worried’ about her.
If you see Eren or know where she might be, call 999 quoting log 1309 of October 27th.
Leigh drug dealer jailed after being ‘caught red-handed’ by police
Emily Sergeant
A drug dealer known around the Leigh area has been jailed last week after police caught him ‘red-handed’.
Dawid Bialek, of no fixed abode, has been jailed after pleading guilty to four counts of possession with intent to supply Class A drugs (heroin and crack cocaine), and handling stolen goods.
It comes after, on Monday 11 May 2026, officers from Greater Manchester Police (GMP) who were patrolling on a canal towpath, near Quayside in Leigh, spotted 30-year-old Bialek attempting to discard a package in the water.
The package was subsequently recovered, and according to GMP, was found to contain multiple wraps of suspected Class A drugs.
Further enquiries then led police to an address in Leigh, where additional evidence linked to drug dealing was recovered – including suspected drugs, scales, empty wraps, and mobile phones.
Bialek was later bailed as police conducted further enquiries, but while that work was continuing, on Friday 19 June, officers carrying out plain-clothes patrols in the town centre saw Bialek in an alley just off the canal tow path, handing out wraps of heroin and crack cocaine to others.
He was once again stopped, searched, and found to be in possession of drugs and cash.
This time he was charged and able to be remanded. He appeared at court over the summer and plead not guilty to the charges brought against him, but as the investigation continued, examination of seized mobile phones uncovered further evidence of drug dealing activity – including messages, videos and notes consistent with the supply of Class A drugs.
Due to the quantity of evidence gathered and submitted to the CPS, Bialek changed his plea to guilty and was sentenced at Liverpool Crown Court last week.
He has been jailed for a total of four years and nine months.
Following the sentencing, a spokesperson for GMP’s Leigh Neighbourhood Policing Team said: “The supply of Class A drugs causes significant harm within our communities and often exploits vulnerable people who are struggling with addiction.
“This result demonstrates our commitment to targeting those responsible for bringing drugs into Leigh and disrupting the criminality associated with them.”
The Manc -
11th August 2020 
