AN ADDITIONAL £22 billion support package should be made available to keep people in their jobs and support families facing income shocks as coronavirus spreads, the Resolution Foundation urged today.

Struggling firms need a statutory retention pay scheme, modelled on maternity pay, to help prevent mass job losses, the think tank said.

People temporarily out of work would remain officially employed by companies under the scheme, but with a significant amount of their pay covered by the government.

Firms would continue to pay workers at least two-thirds of their wages via their payroll, with the state providing a rebate for those payments.

Resolution Foundation chief executive Torsten Bell said the proposed scheme would ensure workers and employers can “pick things up quickly” when conditions improve.

“But the scale of the economic shock facing the country means that many families are going to rely on our social security safety net over the coming months — a safety net that has shrunk considerably over the past decade,” he added.

“To address this, the government should increase unemployment support by a third to £100 a week.

“This approach would show the government is committed to doing whatever it takes to support family budgets, and cushion living standards hit from the wider economic shock.”

The foundation’s report estimates that its suggested combined package of the new scheme, increased unemployed support, wider uprating of benefits and extending statutory sick pay could total around £22bn.

People working in sectors critically affected by coronavirus, such as non-food retail, hotels and restaurants, airlines, travel operators, cleaners and personal services account for around a fifth of Britain’s workforce.