UK coronavirus live: government to support wages and help firms employ people on shorter hours

Chancellor announces job support scheme' to subsidise wages of people in work; VAT cut extended for hospitality and tourism sector until end of March

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2.24pm BST

The Institute for Fiscal Studies has put out a press release giving its assessment of the new job support scheme. It's here.

Here's an extract. (Bold type from the original.)

This is a much less generous scheme than the furlough scheme which it is replacing. It will also be much cheaper - though rather remarkably the Treasury has as yet given no indication of actual costs. In October employers have to pay just 20% of an employee's normal wages and that employee need not work at all. From November support will only be available where employees are working at least a third of their normal hours. For an employee working a third of normal hours from November the employer will have to pay 55% of the normal wage costs.

Employees on the scheme will continue to be treated generously. They will receive 77% of their gross salary for doing a third of their normal hours. For most that will translate into well over 80% of their net pay. There will also be more help for the self-employed, likely in the form of another grant; although details are yet to be announced.

2.17pm BST

NHS England has recorded 30 more coronavirus hospital deaths. Those who died were aged between 18 and 101, and all but two of them had underlying health conditions, NHS England says. The details are here.