Redundancies rose again in the three months to October, taking the number of job losses to a record high of 370,000.

Companies were already preparing for the end of the government’s job subsidies programme by making redundancies before it was eventually extended into next year, experts have said this morning.

The previous record for redundancies in the quarter was 217,000.

The latest data also shows that the unemployment rate ticked up from 4.8 per cent to 4.9 per cent.

While the unemployment rate has come in below the 5.1 per cent figure predicted in a poll of economists by Reuters, it still raises concerns over the fragile state of the economy as more areas face lockdown restrictions in the run up to Christmas.

Aviva head of workplace savings and retirement Laura Stewart-Smith says: “This latest data brings the impact the pandemic has had on the UK labour market into sharp relief.

“A rise in the headline unemployment rate is likely to have been driven by sectors that have absorbed the hardest income hits and businesses that were unable to adapt their operations during the second lockdown in England. 

“The extension of the furlough scheme to March 2021 has provided some much needed respite for some firms. However, many workers may have slipped through the net as employers prepared for the scheme to be wound down in November.”

However, there are also some positives to take away from the Office for National Statistics’ latest data gathering.

There was a slight decrease in the weekly number of redundancies over October, a potential sign that companies went back to the government for support once furlough was extended rather than laying off more staff.

The overall number of payroll employees is set to dip slightly in November, according to early estimates, but the ONS notes that the falls at the start of the pandemic were larger.

While total hours worked are still down over the year, the metric saw a record increase between August and October as lockdown measures were eased.

At 547,000, there were 110,00 more vacancies between September and November than in the previous quarter.