UK furlough scheme spending passes 25 billion pounds

Larger firms had received 11.1 billion pounds from the government's main lending scheme, with the biggest companies getting an extra 2.3 billion pounds. ($1 = 0.8007 pounds) ($1 = 0.8139 pounds) (Writing by William Schomberg Editing by Paul Sandle)

Britain's finance ministry said on Tuesday it had spent more than 25 billion pounds ($30.72 billion) on a furlough program that is supporting 9.3 million jobs.

In a weekly update, the Treasury said claims under its Job Retention Scheme which pays 80% of salary costs for furloughed staff - had risen to 25.5 billion pounds as of June 28 from 22.9 billion pounds the week before.

Banks had lent small businesses 29.5 billion pounds of 100% state-backed loans, up about 1.5 billion pounds from the previous week. Larger firms had received 11.1 billion pounds from the government's main lending scheme, with the biggest companies getting an extra 2.3 billion pounds. ($1 = 0.8007 pounds) ($1 = 0.8139 pounds)