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Chancellor Rishi Sunak today announced the cut-off date for people to be eligible to benefit from the government's coronavirus furlough scheme has been extended in a boost for thousands of workers. 

Under the terms of the original Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme employees had to be on a company's payroll by February 28 in order to be eligible. 

But Mr Sunak has now said the date is being pushed back to March 19 - the day before the scheme was first set out by the Chancellor. 

That means it will be possible for thousands more workers to be furloughed by companies, with the government paying the bill. 

Pushing the date back could benefit more than 200,000 employees, according to Treasury figures. 

Chancellor Rishi Sunak today announced the coronavirus furlough scheme cut-off date is being extended to March 19

There had been major concerns that the February 28 cut-off date would leave many people who have recently changed jobs without any financial support. 

The government had previously suggested those people would have to join the Universal Credit welfare system in order to secure assistance to stay afloat if their employer was no longer able to keep them on because of the outbreak.

The Treasury has said it expects the scheme to be fully operational by next week. 

It is designed to maintain the link between employers and employees during the current crisis so that when lockdown measures are eased and life can start to go back to normal businesses will be able to quickly recover. 

Under the terms of the scheme employers can claim a government grant to cover 80 per cent of the wages of a furloughed employee, up to a cap of £2,500. 

The original cut-off date was put in place by the government to guard against fraudulent claims being made for the cash. 

But the Treasury is now insistent that following a review of how the initiative will work, the cut-off can be pushed back.

Workers placed on furlough are not allowed to perform any of their duties for their employer but they are allowed to carry out training or work for someone else. 

Concerns have been expressed by HM Revenue and Customs that some firms could try to abuse the scheme by asking furloughed employees to work for them while they are technically being paid by the state. 

HMRC is urging any employee who is asked by their company to break the rules to report them.

The government had originally estimated that the scheme could cost £10 billion. 

But take up is widely expected to be much higher than what was initially anticipated which means the bill could triple. 

The Resolution Foundation think tank has estimated between eight million and 11 million people could be furloughed which could cost the Treasury £30 billion to £40 billion.

That calculation was made before the government decided to extend the eligibility cut-off date.