The Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, has announced that the government will continue their job retention scheme until October. The scheme, which allows workers to be paid 80% of their wages up to £2,500 a month, will allow require employers to make contributions from August but also allow them to move workers onto part-time hours. This change comes after the government faced pressure from unions to ensure that that the percentage of worker’s wages paid to them through the scheme would not be cut.

The total death toll as a result of Coronavirus now stands at 32,692, an increase of 627 in the last 24 hours.