Sunak said the move would allow for businesses and employees to “plan with certainty and access support in the first few months of the new year”, and confirmed the next budget would take place on March 3. 

The chancellor also said the government would be extending its various Covid-19 business loan schemes until the end of March.

It means the government will continue to pay 80% of furloughed workers’ wages for six months longer than was originally intended when the scheme was launched at the beginning of the pandemic.