UK's Sunak offers lockdown-hit companies more help to keep jobs

British finance minister Rishi Sunak announced his latest programme to stave off a surge in unemployment on Friday, offering extra help for businesses and workers who are forced to stop work during local coronavirus lockdowns.

In a move likely to cost billions of pounds over the six-month duration of the new scheme, Sunak said the government will pay up to two-thirds of each employee's salary, with a cap of 2,100 pounds ($2,724.33) a month, if they work for companies that are forced to close temporarily.

The announcement represented an expansion of the government's Job Support Scheme - which itself is the replacement of the broader furlough scheme that ends this month - for companies ordered to close and their workers.

As well as the new subsidies, he also announced more generous grants for lockdown-hit companies, offering up to 3,000 pounds per month payable every two weeks, compared with 1,500 every three weeks under the standard scheme.

"I hope that this provides reassurance and a safety net for people and businesses in advance of what may be a difficult winter," Sunak said.