The 200,000 income-hit Scots households left behind by government's Covid wage support

According to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) up to a quarter of Scotland's workforce was put on furlough since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

The taxman says that 628,200 jobs have been put on hold between April 20, when the government's Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (JRS) launched, and May 31.

And around 70% of Scotland's self-employed workers made a claim under the self-employed income support scheme (SEISS), with the Treasury paying out £425m to 146,000 people.

Now a Standard Life Foundation study based on YouGov poll of 600 in Scotland found that eight per cent were "unprotected" as at least one person in a household was out of work and failing to get support from the government support schemes.

A further 14% were 'partially protected', by one of the schemes, but still lost income. An identical proportion had earnings covered and had no loss of income.

READ MORE: Affluent and rural areas hit as one in three working-age Scots are furloughed or jobless

And across the UK, of those who did not benefit from the income support schemes 90% did not benefit from Universal Credit either.

Mubin Haq, chief executive of the Edinburgh-based charity called on the government to intervene.

“It is commendable that the government acted quickly to protect millions of household incomes at the start of the pandemic," he said.

"However, many more people than previously estimated are falling through the cracks, and this number is likely to grow if redundancies increase once the employer contribution to the furlough scheme begins in August. Now is the time to fix the broken safety net to prevent more households falling into hardship. Nearly three million families across the UK are receiving no support and they are feeling abandoned as they are not eligible for support.

“We are calling on the Government to iron out some of the hard edges to its policies and fill in the gaps. In particular support for the newly self-employed and addressing eligibility rules in relation to income and trading thresholds.”

The analysis also revealed that 63% in Scotlnad remained unaffected with no loss of income and did not need covered by the government Covid-19 support schemes.

Across the UK, the report found that 3m, or one in ten, who lost income due to the pandemic were not receiving government support.

And two million were very likely to suffer further income losses in the next few months, with one million saying that it was very likely they would experience job loss or have to cease trading.

A third of them were using credit to pay for essentials, suggesting the drop in income is leaving many financially exposed at a time when a jobs crisis is looming.

There were several reasons why employees had failed to have their earnings covered by the furlough scheme, including job loss, or working reduced hours or on reduced pay. New employees that were not already on the payroll on the cut-off date of March 19, also lost out.

READ MORE: 'Alarm bells' as Scotland's unemployment rate becomes highest of UK nations

Self-employed householders who fell outside the SEISS included those who were getting less than half of their income from self-employment or had trading profits that were above £50,000 in previous years. They also lost out if they were newly self-employed and had not, therefore, filed the relevant tax returns needed to qualify.

Prospects for households relying on income from the self-employed fairly bleak, with two-thirds (65%) thinking it is likely they will suffer a further loss of income over the next three months or so - four-in-ten (39 per cent) thinking it very likely. This included 25% who thought it very likely that they would be affected by job loss or having to cease trading and 14% that they would have a further drop in earnings.

Former Chancellor, Alistair Darling, who is chairman of the foundation said: "Some of the families who have not been protected will be able to rely on savings but many are already struggling to pay for essentials such as food. Given that we have a looming jobs crisis and four in ten have savings of less than £500, the report makes for worrying reading.

“As the job retention schemes end there is a real risk of 1980s levels of unemployment with millions facing a dramatic loss of income. The Government must put in place measures to get people back into work and to support families who will desperately need support. We need to prepare now.”

The report comes as further research from the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), funded by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation charity, found that Covid-19 hit as households were still paying the price for a long hangover from the last crisis.

The pandemic came after the weakest decade of growth in incomes since comparable records began.

It revealed out-of-work households have lost £1,600 per year because of cuts since 2011.

This rises to £2,900 (12%) on average for out-of-work households with children. This is despite the temporary increases in benefits brought in by the UK government in response to the pandemic.

The Herald revealed this week that some of Scotland's most affluent and rural areas are bearing the brunt of a coronavirus jobs pandemic - with unemployment benefit claimants trebling in some parts of the country during lockdown.

New data revealing for the first time the scale of job losses and furloughing that has brought the country to its knees during lockdown shows that nearly one in three are out of work.

It reveals that some of Scotland's more affluent areas with historically lower levels of deprivation have seen the biggest rises in the numbers claiming either Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA) or Universal Credit (UC) - being hit up to five times harder than those areas that are less well off.

At least 843,240 Scots are now either claiming unemployment benefits or have been furloughed under the government's job retention scheme - that is nearly a third of the population who are available for work.

The new data covering the three months from February 13, produced by Jobcentre Plus and Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs, shows that the number of people claiming unemployment benefits has at least doubled in 22 out of the 73 Scottish Parliamentary constituencies.

An HM Treasury spokesman said:“We have put in place an unprecedented package of support to help people across the UK with their finances during the Coronavirus pandemic. This includes the Job Retention Scheme and the Self-Employed Income Support Scheme, which have helped to protect millions of jobs. We have also put in place changes to our welfare system including increasing Universal Credit and Working Tax Credit by up to £1,040 a year, to help those in most need.”