Chancellor: The best way to support people is....>

UK: Chancellor: The best way to support people is to protect their jobs. And we

do that by supporting our businesses - the third part of our plan. The measures

I've announced today on Statutory Sick Pay are crucial to support those who need

to take time off work - but that cost would be borne by business. And if we

expect 20% of the workforce to be unable to work at any one time, the cumulative

cost would hit our small and medium sized businesses hard. So, in recognition of

these exceptional circumstances, today I am taking a significant step. For

businesses with fewer than 250 employees I have decided that the cost of

providing Statutory Sick Pay to any employee off work due to coronavirus will,

for up to 14 days, be met by the Government in full. That could provide over

gbp2bn for up to 2 million businesses.