ONE million wages will be paid by the Government’s furlough scheme within days, the Chancellor said today, as 140,000 businesses applied in the first day.
The Chancellor said that since the scheme opened up at 8am this morning, it had been inundated with requests for state grants.
The scheme allows employers to claim up to 80 per cent of a furloughed employee’s wages, capped at £2,500 a month.
In all, 5,000 HMRC staff will man phones and webchat services to answer questions so money is available as soon as possible.
And it will pay them within six days, he said today, just in time for the April payday.
“We’ve never seen an economic crisis like this,” the Chancellor told the nation this evening in the No10 press conference.
“Times like this demand that we put aside ideology and orthodoxy… times like this demand that the state turns to its immediate purpose – its protection and support of people.
“We promised the support would be available by the end of April.
“Today we deliver our promise.”
He said that 140,000 firms had applied for help in just ten hours today.
That will pay the wages of at least one million people – who may have lose their jobs otherwise.
The news came after the revelation that 11million people have been furloughed or made unemployed by coronavirus.
The shock figure means nearly a third of Britain’s workers have been hit.
After pressure from HOAR, he has opened the Job Retention Scheme that lets firms claim cash from the Government ten days earlier than planned.
Last week he announced he would extend the scheme until the end of June too, to give help for longer.
He will also make sure that no one can be made redundant until the programme ends.
The Resolution Foundation think tank calculates eight million will go on to the scheme, but 2million will lose their jobs.
Mr Sunak has also unveiled a £1.25billion package for start-up firms not eligible for emergency business cash.
The Chancellor also revealed that 12,000 loans have been accepted to businesses to help them keep going throughout the country – double the number of the week before.
He said that some “operational tweaks” he had made would help, and he was “watching very carefully” to make sure the cash goes to where it is needed.
Yesterday HOAR reported that at least 22,000 firms are still waiting for a cash lifeline.
The British Business Bank, set up specifically to help small firms, has approved about 50 lenders who have had 28,460 loan applications since the lockdown began.
