Almost half of UK firms will furlough most of their staff next week

ALMOST half of UK companies expect to furlough at least 50 per cent of their staff in the next week due to the coronavirus pandemic. 

Meanwhile, a third plan to temporarily lay off between three-quarters or all of their staff in the same time period.

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The report by the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) comes as the Treasury had estimated that roughly 10 per cent of the private sector workforce would be put on furlough.

The Government's coronavirus job retention scheme covers 80 per cent of the wages of furloughed workers, to a maximum of £2,500 per month.

The research, based on a poll with 600 businesses, also found that 62 per cent of British firms only have to up three months' cash in reserve.

While almost one in five businesses (18 per cent) had less than a month's worth of cash.

The report comes as Wetherspoons and British Airways plan to put staff members on furlough due to the ongoing coronavirus crisis.

Laura Ashley, which collapsed into administration in March, have also put its workers on the scheme for now.

The Sun has asked the Treasury how many companies have signed up to the coronavirus job retention scheme, but we haven't heard back yet.

BCC director general Adam Marshall said: "The coronavirus pandemic has taken a heavy toll on business and economic activity across the UK.

Meanhile Carl Jackson, managing partner at business advisory firm Quantuma, told The Sun: "This new data highlights the the stark reality of this crisis.

"The reality is that Government measures that have been put in place do not go far enough and the support to date will not necessarily help the small and medium-sized enterprises who simply cannot get access to cash quickly enough to cover the fixed overheads that many of them have.

"The furlough offer is good news, but that doesn’t help immediate cashflow as the payments lag behind and salaries/wages still need to be paid.

"The Government needs to cut down the red tape and impress banks and other lenders to take a more proactive and quicker approach to lending requests."

The Sun contacted the Treasury for comment.

More than one million businesses face going under within weeks — while lenders refuse to honour the Chancellor’s £330billion rescue package.

Yesterday, business secretary Alok Sharma told banks "it’s time to repay the favour" and bail out small businesses in their time of need.

While thousands of struggling small business owners say greedy banks are "cashing in" on virus crisis leaving them high and dry.