hmrc opened at the coronavirus job retention scheme at 8am this morning. this afternoon, over 140,000 firms have applied. and the grants they will receive will help pay the wages of more than a million people. 1 million people who come if they hadn't been furloughed, would have been at risk of losing theirjob. firms applying today should receive their cash in six working days. hmrc will continue to provide updates on the number of people furloughed. and let me put on record my thanks to the thousands of staff at hmrc and hmt, who have made this happen. people have come out of retirement put aside their normal duties and worked around the clock from their kitchen tables and spare rooms to get this new system up and running. this remarkable story of public service reminds us how many different people are playing a role in this crisis. and i am very grateful to all of them for everything they have done. it is important to be clear why we have introduced the c] are schemes we have put in place to support the self—employed and businesses. we have never seen an

hmrc in may and as you were self 2018—2019, you will hear from hmrc in may and received a self—employmentevery month you work, it will be spread over the years but it will be spread over the years but it will be spread over the years but it will be something. for other businesses, and looking at how you can use your skills to do something else. something we are talking around ourcampaign, how else. something we are talking around our campaign, how can you get back to work. we talk about events businesses, what are the things you do and how can you reapply those skills, get business coaching, there is some fantastic free solutions out there, to get a business mental. and look for ways you can use your skills and earn some money during this period and to help you get back on your feet afterwards. the next one is from philip who says, my employer says any accrued leave during filo, roughly two weeks for him, must be taken during furloughed. how can i do this when i am technically not employed by him at the moment. employers enforcing this, so, if you're taking two days leave, they have to gi

come for a few weeks yet, i‘m just waiting to hear from hmrc about the grant that they‘ve extended toome up with something and try keep going. thank you very much. thanks, john, james, for coming on. andy verity is our economics correspondent. i think you have some figures about how many of these loans have been approved. what are the figures? they are just out, victoria, and they show a doubling in the amount lent to more than £1 billion, figures from uk finance, the trade body from the banks and they have been welcomed by the chancellor rishi sunak who has lent his name to their press release. but it is still showing, although £1 billion, only 6020 loan is approved, after more than three weeks of this scheme, which was announced as being hundreds of billions of pounds of support for businesses. what is clear is that support isn't getting through anywhere near quick enough to help those businesses who are rapidly running out of cash. we know from research that up to a million firms are in a position where they are going to run out of cash within are going to run out of cash within a

i am setting hmrc is on top of fraud risks.rance all my life. i changed jobs in march but i have done nothing wrong and i have missed out on being furloughed, can't this be changed? i appreciate that. we want to help as many people as possible. we need to make sure there are safeguards in the system that we are paying money out correctly. the chancellor last week announced an extension of the scheme. anyone employed by the 19th of march, the day before he announced the scheme and had been reported to us on pay as you earn, will be able to benefit. whenever some people will have been caught out. any news on whether there will be an extension to that? i am afraid it is the case that this scheme will not help eve ryo ne that this scheme will not help everyone who might possibly need help. the scheme is the way it is and has been launched today. there is help available. universal credits and tax credits have been made more generous. that is disappointing for those workers. thank you in this incredibly busy time. £40 billion for the

hmrc opened at the coronavirus job retention scheme at 8am this morning.1a0,000 firms have applied. and the grants they will receive will help pay the wages of more than a million people. 1 million people who come if they hadn't been furloughed, would have been at risk of losing theirjob. firms applying today should receive their cash in six working days. hmrc will continue to provide updates on the number of people furloughed. and let me put on record my thanks to the thousands of staff at hmrc and hmt, who have made this happen. people have come out of retirement put aside their normal duties and worked around the clock from their kitchen tables and spare rooms to get this new system up and running. this remarkable story of public service reminds us how many different people are playing a role in this crisis. and i am very grateful to all of them for everything they have done. it is important to be clear why we have introduced the cj are schemes we have put in place to support the self—employed and businesses. we have never seen an economic crisis like t

you are through to hmrc, how can i help you? social distance civil servants saving livelihoods.rt of the team who within a month have started to pay the wages of 4 million british workers. had more than half a million applications. we have paid out more than {4.5 billion worth of support to businesses and we are managing to keep people employed. thejob scheme already extended by a month. the chancellor has had to adopt the business loans element in this rescue package with another new scheme for small business microloans. today we announced a brand—new loan scheme for the smaller businesses. they will be able to get up to £50,000, a quarter of their revenue, very easily with a simple form, standardised, and hopefully have the money in their account within 24 hours. so these bank loans are 100% backed by government, worth up to £50,000 and could be available within a day. in the first year, no repayments are needed. that is badly needed at businesses such as in water flowers, where they are not seeing green shoots. we think many businesses in the hospitality sector including ours

there are obvious questions about the additional capacity issues this will place on hmrc.nment responds quickly. if there are gaps in existing provision... we have concerns around access to finance for many companies. we would like to see greater transparency for government so that we can be clear that support packages that have been made available are getting to the right place. c support package but there is, further down the line, questions about what this does to finances, leaving an enormous hole. the government had to respond in extraordinary circumstances in order to protect the economy and they were right to do so. as we emerge from this crisis, it will lead to lighter questions about our economy. i also think the vital role played by key workers. whether we properly recognise the valuable contribution that they make through this crisis. we know that social care workers, some of the poorest people in our society, are on the front line responding to this. we are calling to make sure that our social care workforce has the right access to equipment and that they are a

your new employer has to have reported your imminent pay to hmrc before the new cut—off date and that whole point of updating this scheme was to bring more people underneath it. i can't believe that the government intends that people who previously were included will now be excluded but we are going to need to wait and hear for more clarification. it is a really anxious time. i would recommend he has a look at some of the facebook groups that have been set up for people affected by this issue, where they are sharing a lot of information on the kinds of conversations they've had with their employers. two questions wrap together for you, michelle. employers. two questions wrap togetherforyou, michelle. first, mark says, "what support is there for the self—employed and what are we supposed to do with no work, no money and no government or bank help?" amy goes onto say she opened her pub in july last help?" amy goes onto say she opened her pub injuly last year and it was closed but because she has had her business for less than a year, she gets no help as a self—employed person. what woul

his statement and i am also very grateful to all the treasury civil servants and those working in hmrcrs that at least some of those problems are more acute in our country than in many others. a purchasing manager's index figures that came out last week indicated a sharp fall in business confidence, and that sadly wasn't a surprise. it has been clear for some time that the economic slowdown we are currently experiencing a sharp and deep. it was, however, unsettling that those figures suggested that business confidence has taken a stronger hit in the uk than across the eurozone. i have heard from small business owners who put their life and soul into their firms out but have less than two weeks of cash flow left and iare than two weeks of cash flow left and i are devastated. we all need to work together to get the different support schemes working for our country. we must fix this. now, i support schemes working for our country. we must fix this. now, lam well aware that many of the conditions for shifting out of lockdown and not within the chancellor's blast. however there are matters

long—awaited job retention scheme opens today — i'll ask the man who's rolling out the sheme, the head of hmrc

you are through to hmrc, how can i help you? social distancing civil servants saving livelihoods.ve had more than half a million applications. we have paid out more than {4.5 billion worth of support to businesses and we are managing to keep people employed. thejob scheme already extended by a month. the chancellor has had to adopt the business loans element in this rescue package, with another new scheme for small business microloans. today, we announced a brand—new loan scheme for the smaller businesses. they will be able to get up to £50,000, a quarter of their revenue, very easily with a simple form, standardised, and hopefully have the money in their account within 24 hours. so, these bank loans are 100% backed by government, worth up to £50,000 and could be available within a day. in the first year, no repayments are needed. that is badly needed at businesses such as in water flowers, where they're not seeing green shoots. we think many businesses in the hospitality sector, including ours, we need assurances and support way beyond this initial period. we are going to need su

jim and hmrc and the team are doing a fantastic job getting these hmrc and the team are doing a fantasticjobier, which is pleasing because this is a huge challenge for them and they are doing a greatjob. does that answer what you wanted? thank you. james from the daily mail online. churchill had a personal doctor and president trump has a medical team but the prime minister was left with persistent symptoms for more than a week and only admitted to hospital after a video call with a gp. there doesn't seem to have been a great deal of social distancing going on in downing street. haven't we failed to protect our key decision—makers and what needs to change in the future, do we needs to change in the future, do we need more of a us style system with more protection? i will defer to steve in a second but i think the prime minister has received excellent ca re prime minister has received excellent care and advice every step of the process. at the end of the day, we are all trying our absolute best. none of us superhuman are and impervious to getting sick during this process and that is what make

it is interesting because the question arises, how would hmrc monitor that?stem while their employees have been carrying out productive work. it ranges up to two and a half thousand pounds a month. what would happen if workers earn more than that? the only alternative is if your employee or employer agrees to top up your wages. if you area high agrees to top up your wages. if you are a high earner, unless your employer agrees to top up your wage, thatis employer agrees to top up your wage, that is the maximum you can claim, i aid. there are concerns that the furlough scheme has been extended but that it is potentially april you to mass redundancy. what are worker rights right now? we are in unprecedented times. this is thejob retention scheme and, at the moment, it is doing itsjob in that retention scheme and, at the moment, it is doing its job in that there are millions and millions of employees who would otherwise have been laid off without pay. it is doing itsjob to been laid off without pay. it is doing its job to that extent. what we do not know is wheth

that latest line from the hmrc. talk about shake shack, saying it will return all of its $10 million in loans from the u.s. government, talking about businesses not so small or medium-sized having access to government funding. that is as the nation faces criticism for struggling to deploy funds to struggling businesses -- small businesses. this is bloomberg. ♪ matt: welcome back to "bloomberg market: the european open." six minutes from the start of trading. shake shack, the u.s. burger chain, says it will return $10 million in loans from the u.s. government. the move follows widespread criticism over large companies that got access to the funds despite them being to save small businesses. the u.s. is among the nations the crafted mask -- massive stimulus programs and now they face the challenge of getting the funds where they are most loan program sme dried up. is danidetail relief burger. we should start with if there is any hope of minimizing the economic impact of coronavirus, governments need to do what they ca

hmrc say it is designed to be simple but as you see there it is depending on you being organised andes it will take more time because you have to work out 80% of their fellow salary and take things like pensions into account. once the application has been received and if there are no errors, the cash should be with you within six working days. we are keen to hear from you six working days. we are keen to hearfrom you on how six working days. we are keen to hear from you on how your application process is going. there is pressure on the government to get this right, we talked to you about the business interruption loans up to £330 billion. so farjust 2% of that cash has gone through so the government has come under fire for that. we will be looking at that tomorrow. if you have applied for a loa n tomorrow. if you have applied for a loan ora tomorrow. if you have applied for a loan or a fellow scheme, get in touch. i know so many people want more and more information, so i know they will get in touch. we're using technology more and more during the lockdown but that means greater oppo

hmrc says the money will be paid to companies in time for payday at the end of the month.ple will get help. but not everyone — including people like saj, who's now having to live off his savings. iam one i am one of the tens of thousands of people who have been caught out by the furlough loophole that means people leaving jobs at the end of february or in march for qualifying. most employers will pay employees at the end of the month. people who movejobs at the the end of the month. people who move jobs at the end of february or any time in march the information will only be processed by the employer and submitted to hmrc at the end of the month. there is no way it would have been sent by the 19th of march. the only people who would benefit who are those who are paid weekly. the government said it cannot help save everyone or every business with its schemes but it is trying. and also charlie, another worry this morning. that scheme is only temporary. let me run you through the details. the furlough payment will be backdated to the beginning of march and that scheme is desi

hmrc, who are manning this, are allowing people who have not put in allowing people who have not putefits. if you aren't going to get anything because your profits are so low, you can apply for universal credit, and tens of thousands of self—employed have done so already. last week, there we re done so already. last week, there were long, long queues, people were queueing for ten hours on the department for work and pensions telephones and online, to get through. they have transferred i think 10,000 staff so people are getting through, and they have dealt with i think 900,000 claims in the last two weeks. so people are getting help. if you don't know whether you are going to get anything, turned to us —— turn to us, which is a charity which can be reached on the internet, has a benefits calculator which you can look at to see whether you would qualify for universal credit and that will help you. universal credit is more generous than i expected. the basic allowance is £500 a week, for a couple. no, the basic allowance is £500 a week, fora couple. no, £500 the basic allowance is £500

we talked about people who were not registered with hmrc by the 28th of february, it has been extendedeen hearing, the government is expected to announce, this afternoon, an extension to the current lockdown measures. labour's shadow health secretary, jonathan ashworth. good morning. let's go to the downing street briefing, beating today, what are you expecting to hear when it comes down to an extension of the social and physical restrictions? i expect them to announce the lockdown we are living under will be extended. some people still have to go to work and we want the government to give clear guidance to firms making staff go to work in say the construction sector, when it does not appear to be essential work. we expect the lockdown to continue and we would support that. i called for a lockdown before the government introduce one. we want more detail about what happens next. last night thejunior health about what happens next. last night the junior health minister complained on twitter said people should not ask about exit strategy because there is no exit strategy until a vaccine,

we did that by hmrc designing a scheme which meant anybody who was on the payroll at the end of februarye through the cost of redundancy, but also the cost of recruiting again. in terms of the economy getting going again, what is it like when you are having those discussions in cabinet about having to strike that balance between protecting the uk from coronavirus, but also trying to make sure that the economy doesn't take such a huge hit that it would take such a long time to recover? how is that balance being struck? 0ur time to recover? how is that balance being struck? our primary purpose of the government strategy is to make sure that we save lives, to protect the nhs by not being overwhelmed. we are now in a place for the nhs has more capacity in critical care beds which is very welcome. we have a lwa ys which is very welcome. we have always continued for people to keep working and work from home where they can, if they cannot work from home, they could still go to work u nless home, they could still go to work unless they are in places where we had set for other reasons, like theat