Government urged to speed up business aid
Support for businesses during the coronavirus pandemic must come faster if people's livelihoods are to be saved, the Government has been warned.
The Government's furlough scheme, which allows employees to get 80% of their salaries up to a maximum of £2,500 a month, was extended on Friday for at least another month, as many employees are forced to stay at home to help slow the spread of coronavirus.
Adam Marshall, director general at the British Chamber of Commerce (BCC), said the situation for so many firms is "extremely difficult".
He was asked about the consequences of support not coming through fast enough, and told Sky News's Sophy Ridge On Sunday: "Well, the cost here is in terms of people's livelihoods.
"We're seeing for example about 66%, two-thirds of businesses, telling us that they're going to use the furlough scheme in order to try to get some support for their employees so that they don't have to make them redundant or lay them off.
"That's a really big number, and unless some of that cash flows through from the furlough scheme quickly when applications open tomorrow, a lot of businesses are going to face difficulty paying wages and paying suppliers.
"So the human cost as well as the economic cost could be big if we don't see support moving more quickly to the frontline."
Mr Marshall told the programme: "We've found that about 60% of companies have less than three months' cash in reserve, many who have seen their revenues fall off a cliff over the past month or so, and many of them are taking some really big life or death decisions as businesses.
"So the support getting to the front line over the next few days is going to be absolutely critical."
He said things have to become "faster and simpler", adding: "Right now it is taking too long for a lot of the support to reach the frontline.
Published: by Radio NewsHub