Coronavirus (COVID-19) roundup, 18 to 22 May 2020

This page contains data and analysis published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) from 18 to 22 May 2020. Go to our live page for the most up-to-date insights on COVID-19.

22 May 2020

Provisional figures for April 2020 show that the UK public sector borrowed £62.1 billion, almost as much as in the whole of the last financial year (£62.7 billion). Borrowing is larger than usual partly because there is additional spending, such as on the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS), and partly because tax receipts tend to fall when the economy is slowing.

Borrowing is the difference between receipts, such as from taxes, and spending on government services, such as on health, education and transport. Borrowing is calculated on a national accounts (accrued) basis, which records payments in line with economic activity.

The UK public sector debt was just under £1.9 trillion at the end of April, equivalent to just under 98% of gross domestic product (GDP). This is the cumulative total amount owed by the public sector.

These figures present an initial indication of the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) on the public sector finances. There is a large amount of uncertainty about the impact on tax receipts and on government spending. Our data will be revised over the coming months as more information becomes available.

22 May 2020

The record fall in retail sales picked up speed in April 2020, with sales volumes dropping by 18.1% compared with 5.2% in March 2020.

According to our latest data, 14.3% of stores reported zero turnover in April.

Clothing sales declined by more than half (50.2%), having already fallen by 34.9% in the previous month. Meanwhile, sales at food stores also declined (by 4.1%), following an initial rise in March as lockdown measures were introduced.

Non-store retailing and alcohol stores (off-licences) were the only sectors to record growth in April, at 18.0% and 2.3% respectively.

The lockdown continued to affect people’s buying habits, with the proportion spent online rising again to a new record of 30.7%.

22 May 2020

Coronavirus (COVID-19) restrictions are having a substantial impact on trade between UK and overseas businesses.

Nearly three-quarters (72%) of exporting businesses in the UK say they are exporting less than normal, while 59% of importers report that imports are lower than normal.

Transportation and storage has been most affected, with 81% of exporting businesses and 80% of importing businesses seeing a reduction in trade.

This analysis is based on businesses that responded to our survey as continuing to trade and reported financial performance outside of normal expectations.

21 May 2020

Restrictions on international travel are currently in place across multiple countries because of the coronavirus (COVID-19), with the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) advising “against all non-essential travel overseas for British nationals” on 17 March 2020. We have included some analysis of recent international travel in our migration release.

These insights are not measures of international migration as they refer to travel patterns by all types of passengers, not just international migrants.

Home Office recent passenger arrivals

There were an estimated 23.7 million passenger arrivals (including returning UK residents) in January to March 2020. This is an 18% (5.4 million) decrease compared with the same period in 2019, with significant falls towards the end of the quarter, related to coronavirus travel restrictions.

At the same time the number of applications for visitor visas in the first quarter of 2020 was 26% lower than in the same period in 2019. An additional statistical report will be published on 28 May 2020, for the period up to end of April 2020, which will include additional data on arrivals to the UK and other statistics showing the impact of the coronavirus on the immigration system.

Recent travel insights

Using statistics from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), we can see that the number of international air passengers travelling between the UK and the rest of the world fell substantially in March 2020.

There was a widespread decline in international air travel in March 2020

Annual percentage change in monthly air passenger totals between airports in the UK and airports in regions of the world, January to March, 2020

Source: Office for National Statistics analysis of Civil Aviation Authority statistics, Table 12.1

Notes:

1. Country regions are where the foreign airport is located and are based on the country of residence groupings used in the International Passenger Survey (IPS).
2. For more information on this analysis please see section 14 of our migration report and see the CAA website for the notes of Table 12.1 and the FAQ section.

Download the data

There have been similar falls in the number of people travelling to and from the UK by other routes such as ferry and Eurotunnel.

Sea traffic from short international ferry routes to Ireland and other European countries dropped by 50% in March 2020, according to monthly sea passenger statistics produced by the Department for Transport (DfT). Meanwhile, there was a 60% fall in car and coach passengers travelling on the Eurotunnel in March 2020 compared with the previous year.

20 May 2020

Inflation has dropped to its lowest level in almost four years largely because of falling energy and fuel pump prices.

The Consumer Prices Index including owner occupiers’ housing costs (CPIH) 12-month inflation rate was 0.9% in April 2020, down from 1.5% in March 2020. The Consumer Prices Index (CPI) 12-month inflation rate fell from 1.5% in March 2020 to 0.8% in April 2020, the lowest it’s been since August 2016.

Clothing and footwear was also a factor in the fall in inflation, with prices in this category (as recorded in the CPI) falling by 2.9% in the year to April 2020 – a drop of 0.11 percentage points.

This was partially offset by rising prices for recreational goods. The price of games, toys and hobbies, such as computer games consoles, craft kits, and dolls, also all increased.

For consumers, this generally means a drop in the price we pay for goods and savers may be able to get higher interest rates on their savings accounts.

19 May 2020

After an address by the Prime Minister on Sunday 10 May 2020, the UK government issued revised coronavirus (COVID-19) guidance for England. This encouraged people who were able to return to work, and could not work from home, to do so.

Devolved governments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have kept their own guidance on work and travel in place.

We explored the number of people who live in one UK nation but normally work in another and who therefore may face one set of rules at home and another at their workplace. However, government guidance continues to encourage people to work from home where they can, so not all of these people will be affected.

Of the roughly 32.7 million people in employment in 2019, over 99% worked in the same country they lived in.

Over 200,000 people lived in one country in the UK but worked in another. The most common border to cross while commuting was the English–Welsh border, with a total of around 130,000 people making this trip for work. Another 68,000 people or so work in Scotland and live in England, or vice versa.

Very few people live in Northern Ireland and work elsewhere in the UK, while about 3,500 lived in England and worked in Northern Ireland.

Approximately 75,000 people live in the UK but work outside the UK, equivalent to about 1 in 430 people.

19 May 2020

In the Prime Minister’s address to the nation on Sunday 10 May 2020, he said: “anyone who can’t work from home, for instance those in construction or manufacturing, should be actively encouraged to go to work”. Changes to the rules apply only in England, with devolved governments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland still encouraging people to “stay at home”.

We have split the industries in the economy into four broad groups, using data from our Business Impact of Coronavirus (COVID-19) Survey (BICS) and analysis on homeworking. The industry groups used here encompass a wide range of activities and do not fully reflect the underlying variation within the industries.

“Key worker” related industries largely still operating in person (44% of the workforce)

Despite generally offering reduced homeworking opportunities, these industries (such as health and social care and the utilities industries) have largely continued operating. However, there is wide variation, for example, between types of retail and types of transportation. Other analysis estimates the key worker population at 33% of the UK workforce.

Business services industries largely operating from home (28% of the workforce)

These industries (such as ICT and professional services) offer more homeworking opportunities, and relatively few have paused trading.

Industries largely shut down, in line with government guidance (11% of the workforce)

With few homeworking opportunities, many businesses in these industries (such as restaurants and entertainment) have furloughed staff and paused operations.

Industries being encouraged to go back to work since Sunday 10 May 2020 (16% of the workforce)

Manufacturing and construction have had mixed experiences, with middling levels of operations and furloughing. Some of the workers in these industries may now be returning to work.

One in six UK workers are in manufacturing and construction, which could be returning to work in England

Selected measures of employment by industry groups (based on likely state of operations), UK, 2019 and 6 to 19 April 2020

19 May 2020

Our latest figures on the UK labour market highlight some of the initial impacts of the coronavirus (COVID-19) lockdown.

While employment increased slightly to 76.6% in January to March 2020 (furloughed workers still count as employed), the total number of hours worked dropped by 12.4 million hours (1.2%) compared with the previous year. This was the largest annual fall in a decade.

The fall in hours worked occurred as lockdown measures were introduced, with average hours around 25% below usual levels in the final week of March.

There were signs of falling employment in our real-time tax data from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), which showed a 1.2% annual decline in the number of paid employees in April 2020.

There were 637,000 job vacancies in February to April 2020, 170,000 fewer than in the three months to January 2020. The quarterly fall of 170,000 is a series record (since 2001).

Accommodation and food services – among the sectors most affected by coronavirus restrictions – saw the largest falls in hours worked and job vacancies of any industry.