UK wage subsidy scheme costing 8 billion pounds a month – Sunak

LONDON (Reuters) – British finance minister Rishi Sunak said the government’s coronavirus jobs retention scheme was costing about 8 billion pounds ($9.8 billion) a month but the final costs were hard to estimate because it depended on take-up.

“This is costing in the run rate of around 8 billion pounds per month at the moment but that will depend on the ultimate take-up,” Sunak told BBC television in an interview.

Earlier he announced a four-month extension of the plan – under which the government is paying 80% of the wages of workers who are temporarily laid off – until the end of October but said employers would have to contribute from August.