Hounslow Council says challenges lie ahead as uncertainty remains over what will happen to around a fifth of the borough's population who were on furlough at the peak of coronavirus the pandemic.

Hounslow's finance chief Shantanu Rajawat said 56,000 residents in the borough were subject to the scheme at a point this year – making it among the highest in the country.

Councillors were reviewing the authority's medium term financial strategy and the impact of Covid-19 on the council's finances.

Cllr Rajawat said: "In terms of the overall Hounslow economy, there is potentially a risk to over 40,000 local jobs.

"We commissioned some analysis that highlighted to us that those in lower skilled, lower paid jobs such as retail, hospitality, accommodation, transport or storage, will be disproportionately affected by the impact of a diminished Heathrow and the impact that it has on the local economy.

"Pre-Covid, Hounslow…was probably the second-fastest growing economy in London, and yet post-Covid, although it's not over yet, we're looking at approximately an 11 per cent contraction in our economic output in 2020.

"And so I'm very much now looking at 2020/1, 2021/22 to see how that impact plays out and how quick a recovery we can get.

"While 11 per cent may not sound a lot, actually it's quite big.

"At peak of lockdown we had 56,000 furloughed residents, that from memory is either the highest or second highest in the country.

"So that was a large number and the challenge for us is looking as the furlough scheme winds down how many of those are retained and how many are made redundant."

Cllr Rajawat said demand for the council tax support scheme had risen by 12 per cent, with the cost of the scheme rising to around £1.3 million more than was budgeted for last February when the previous budget was set.

In setting a budget strategy the finance team also said uncertainty remained over coronavirus, the impact of Brexit and how much the council will receive from the government's annual funding settlement.

According to the council's current forecasts, it has a budget gap of £6.4m for the next financial year.

The report into the plan said that will need to be addressed by 2021, and that further savings are expected of £5.9 million in 2022/23 and £6.3m in 2023/24.

Have you been relying on the furlough scheme and are about to come off it? Let us know your story. Email Brentford Nub News at [email protected]