Claims to the value of £8 billion made to Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme in first two weeks

HMRC announces that by midnight on 3 May 2020, more than 6 million employees had been furloughed by 800,000 companies

Claims to the value of £8 billion were made to the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) in its first two weeks, HMRC has announced.

In a tweet yesterday afternoon, HMRC said that by midnight on 3 May 2020, claims to the CJRS showed that - 

• 6.3 million employees had been furloughed;
• 800,000 employers were furloughing; and 
• a total of £8 billion had been claimed from the Scheme.

NB - while a one-month extension to the scheme to the end of June 2020 was announced on 17 April 2020, the Guardian reports that the Chancellor Rishi Sunak has said that, while it will have to be wound down at some point because of its steep cost, there will be no 'cliff edge' termination.