Chancellor Rishi Sunak is said to be 'considering options' after it was revealed that the government's furlough scheme is to be wound down.
The scheme, which pays up to 80% of companies staff salaries impacted by the coronavirus pandemic, has been described as not 'sustainable' in the longer term by Mr Sunak.
So far, the cost of the Job Retention Scheme so far has been £8billion with 6.3 million workers having the majority of their pay from the government.
Mr Sunak said that there will be now "cliff edge" cut off to the scheme, and The Times has now reported that the Chanellor will announce plans next week on how to wind down the scheme from July.