As the UK battles to combat Coronavirus, Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced a historic wage protection where grants will cover 80% of salary of retained workers up to £2,500 a month.
This comes at a time when the UK recorded the highest number of day-to-day deaths with an increase of 40 deaths standing currently at 177. These measures were announced as civilians continued not to comply with government guidelines and advise around non-mobility and social distancing. The measures are particularly going to alleviate the concerns of gig-economy workers and daily wage earners. Rishi Sunak said,
"Today I can announce that in the first time of our history, the government is going to step in and help pay people's wages.
"We're setting up a new coronavirus job retention scheme. Any employer in the country small or large, charitable or non-profit, will be eligible for the scheme.
"Government grants will cover 80% of the salary of retained workers up to a total of £2,500 a month - that's just above the median income."
An official guideline around the amount of wages that the employees on zero-hour contracts are entitled to is still being hammered out. However, the Chancellor has assured that No. 11 is closely co-ordinating with the Bank of England in terms of building a war chest, and borrowing especially as it looks at the sustenance of this model for the next few months in light of the warnings issued by scientists and health experts around the long-term effect of the virus running until Spring 2021.
In the meantime, Boris Johnson has asked cafes, pubs, clubs, restaurants, nightclubs, theatres, cinemas, gyms and leisure centres across UK to close from tonight and not open tomorrow.
