Of the 14% of businesses who reported they had paused trading but are intending to restart trading in the next two weeks, they expect 31% of their workforce will return from furlough leave.

New declarations for Universal Credit and new claim advances have both gradually declined to 19th May 2020, following peaks on 27th March and 6th April, respectively.

Tej Parikh, Chief Economist at the Institute of Directors, remarked: “While the Treasury is keen to reduce its spend on the scheme, for firms that have tried to hold off using it and may now need to, this will be a bitter pill to swallow.”

Craig Beaumont of the Federation of Small Businesses said “The vast majority of employers registering for the scheme are SMEs. These struggle with changes, so any ending should be announced in advance so they have time to plan, including those who are entering the scheme now as their business enters difficulty.”