Around a quarter of employees in Britain have been furloughed and companies have claimed 8 billion pounds ($9.9 billion) from the government to sustain their wage bills during the coronavirus lockdown, Reuters quoted tax authorities as saying on Monday.

HM Revenue and Customs said on Twitter that 6.3 million workers from 800,000 employers had been furloughed, citing figures up to midnight on Sunday.

That accounts for 23 per cent of Britain's 27.5 million private sector workers, according to the most recent labour market data, and underlines how heavily the world's fifth-largest economy is leaning on the state during the coronavirus pandemic.

Under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, which is central to efforts to stop companies laying off workers during a forced shutdown of much of the economy, the state pays 80pc of workers' pay up to 2,500 pounds a month.