More than 140,000 firms have applied for the Government's furlough scheme in eight hours, the Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak has said.
The Government's Jobs Retentions scheme opened to employers today - allowing struggling firms to apply for funding to cover their workers' wages during the Covid-19 crisis.
The scheme, which places staff on furlough, covers 80% of a person's wages up to £2,500 a month. The Chancellor said the applications made today would cover the wages of more than one million people.
Figures from think tank the Resolution Foundation suggest that 11 million people could end up on the scheme or unemployed after a three week extension of the coronavirus lockdown in the UK was announced last week.
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