AROUND one in three UK companies have furloughed between 75 per cent and 100 per cent of their staff due to the coronavirus crisis.

Two thirds of firms have also put some staff on furlough, according to a new survey.

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The government's coronavirus job retention scheme covers 80 per cent of the wages of furloughed workers, to a maximum of £2,500 per month.

The weekly study by the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) also found that just 2 per cent of firms had received coronavirus loans.

The survey was based on 701 responses from UK businesses, of which 97 per cent have fewer than 250 employees.

The BCC is now urging the government to accelerate the furlough and loan support schemes, with April's pay day set to be a crunch point for businesses.

How does the furlough scheme work?

ANY UK organisation with employees can apply, including businesses, charities, recruitment agencies and public authorities.

It's up to your place of work to apply to the scheme, meaning you won't need to contact the government yourself.

To access the scheme, your employer must comply with the following:

• Designate employees who cannot do their jobs due to the coronavirus measures put in place by the government
• Notify those employees of their new "furloughed" status
• Submit information to HMRC about furloughed employees to set up a system for reimbursement and about existing systems that will facilitate payments

To be furloughed, you must have been on a payroll on February 28.

Although furlough leave can be backdated to March 1, the portal your employer will use to register your fuloughed status will not be up and running until the end of April.

Consequently, you will not be paid until then.

Workers can ask previous employers to rehire and furlough them, even if they left for another job, but firms don't have to do this.

BCC director general Dr Adam Marshall said: "While we've seen a high number of firms furloughing staff in anticipation of the job retention scheme coming online, it is still unclear whether they will start receiving funds before their payroll date.

"This could exacerbate the cash crisis many businesses are facing.

"It is essential that the job retention scheme makes payments to businesses as soon as possible.

"Any delay could mean more livelihoods under threat, more business failures, and more hardship in our communities."

Yesterday, Chancellor Rishi Sunak said the government is "on track" to open the system for furlough payments on April 20.

But this leaves only a short time for funds to reach cash-strapped businesses before April's payroll is processed, the BCC added.

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The report comes as the Office for Budget Responsibility yesterday said UK GDP could be slashed by 35 per cent – and two million could lose their jobs over the pandemic.

A Treasury spokeswoman said: "We've been taking unprecedented action at unprecedented speed to help businesses, jobs and our economy during this crisis – with hundreds of thousands of firms across the county benefitting from our wide package of support.

"Our jobs retention scheme is ensuring people are able to stay employed during the outbreak and approvals for our business interruption loan scheme has shown an eightfold increase in the last two weeks – with around 4,200 loans worth just over £800million.

"We're working closely with banks to ensure we get this support out to those who need it as soon as possible."

A couple of weeks ago, almost half of UK companies expected to furlough at least 50 per cent of their staff in the next week due to the coronavirus pandemic.

A number of business have already put their staff on furlough, including Wetherspoons and Laura Ashley.

Read our need-to-know guide to how furlough works.

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