Coronavirus jobs bailout could cost Treasury '£40bn every three months'

Resolution Foundation analysts estimate cost of UK's wage subsidy scheme

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The government's plan to subsidise the wages of workers affected by the Covid-19 lockdown of the economy could end up costing the Treasury 40bn for every three months the scheme is operating, a thinktank has said.

Following estimates from a leading employers' organisation that at least a third of workers in the private sector were likely to be furloughed, the Resolution Foundation said it had upped its estimate of the bill the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, would face.

Income subsidies