LONDON: Britain will continue to heavily subsidise millions of workers’ wages until the end of March, finance minister Rishi Sunak announced Thursday as England began a second lockdown.

“Given… significant uncertainty, the worsening economic backdrop and the need to give people and businesses security through the winter, I believe it is right to go further,” the chancellor of the exchequer told parliament, having already prolonged the jobs furlough scheme by one month until December.

The scheme, first introduced as the UK entered an initial lockdown in late March, had been due to end on October 31 and replaced by a much watered-down package.

But with England on Thursday beginning a second lockdown, Sunak had extended the scheme by one month before deciding to go much further with the latest announcement.

The government’s furlough programme is now set to last at least one year and the change follows the Bank of England’s announcement Thursday to pump into the UK’s virus-wracked economy additional cash stimulus worth £150 billion ($193 billion, 163 billion euros).

“As the Bank of England has said this morning, the economic recovery has slowed and the economic risks are skewed to the downside,” Sunak said.

“So we can announce today that the furlough scheme will not be extended for one month — it will be extended until the end of March.”

The furlough scheme will continue to pay up to 80 percent of wages for millions of private-sector workers across the UK.

While England joins Wales and Northern Ireland in a second lockdown, some parts of Scotland have so far escaped the toughest restrictions.