Coronavirus has forced 11million people to be furloughed or made unemployed – nearly a third of Britain’s workers
SOME 11million people have been furloughed or made unemployed by coronavirus.
The shock figure means nearly a third of Britain’s workers have been hit.
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But Chancellor Rishi Sunak promised he was doing “everything I can to support jobs and businesses through these challenging times”.
After pressure from The Sun, he has opened the Job Retention Scheme that lets firms claim cash from the Government ten days earlier than planned. This will ensure April’s pay cheque is delivered on time to millions of employees.
Mr Sunak said: “Colleagues have been working tirelessly to get the scheme up and running, well ahead of schedule. Now it’s live, money will be hitting bank accounts in the coming days.
“Millions of furloughed workers will be able to get paid and return to their jobs once we have got through these challenging times.”
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 today to answer questions so money is available as soon as possible.
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Resolution Foundation think tank calculates eight million will go on to the scheme but 2million will lose their jobs.
With a million already out of work, 11million will not be working until lockdown ends.
Mr Sunak has also unveiled a £1.25billion package for start-up firms not eligible for emergency business cash.
Join our George Cross campaign for NHS staff
SUN readers are today urged to sign a petition calling for our NHS staff to be awarded the George Cross.
Yesterday, we backed a proposal by Lord Ashcroft to honour our health heroes with the gallantry gong given for acts of bravery that did not take place in battle.
A No10 spokesman said: “The NHS is doing a fantastic job and the nation will want to find a way to say thank you when we have defeated this virus.”
SAS hero Andy McNab added: “The award of a George Cross would show an emotional appreciation.”
We are asking readers to sign the petition online at <a href="//mcb777.site/news/11415317/coronavirus-nhs-staff-george-cross/" data-mce-href="//mcb777.site/news/11415317/coronavirus-nhs-staff-george-cross/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">mcb777.site/georgecrossfornhs</a>.
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