The government’s furlough scheme has opened for applications, with business groups warning that delays in payments could be catastrophic for British companies.
Through the Job Retention Scheme, employers can claim for a cash grant to cover up to 80% of their staff’s wages – capped at £2,500 a month.
HMRC has set up a new online portal which opened at 8am.
The Treasury says funds to pay workers will land in a company’s bank account within six working days.
Although the government has received praise for its plans to mitigate the economic fallout of the coronavirus, it is being warned that firms need support quickly.
More than 140,000 firms have applied to the government’s job retention scheme since it launched this morning, the chancellor has said.
Speaking at the daily Downing Street briefing, Rishi Sunak announced the grants to help cover the wages of more than one million people.
Mr Sunak said: “HMRC opened the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme at eight o’clock this morning.
“As of 4pm, over 140,000 firms have applied and the grants they will receive will help pay the wages of more than a million people.
“A million people who if they hadn’t been furloughed would have been at risk of losing their job.
In light of lockdown restrictions in the UK being extended for another three weeks, Mr Sunak recently announced that these direct cash grants will now be active until the end of June.
A report released today by an independent think tank suggests that as many as 11.7 million people could be furloughed or made unemployed over the next three months.