Wednesday newspaper round-up: Wage subsidies, key workers, Airbus

The UK government’s plan to subsidise the wages of workers affected by the Covid-19 lockdown should be extended until at least autumn to prevent it from becoming a “waiting room” for redundancy, employers groups have argued. Demanding the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, make urgent changes to protect workers, firms and the wider economy, the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) said the Treasury’s multibillion-pound coronavirus job retention scheme needed to be made more flexible to allow furloughed staff to work reduced hours. – Guardian

The families of bus drivers , shop workers, prison officers and other frontline staff who have died from coronavirus should be entitled to the £60,000 life assurance alongside those of healthcare workers, according to employees and unions. The trade union Unite has reported that 27 of its bus driver members have died after contracting the disease. Concerns have been raised about the financial protections offered to their relatives and those of other workers running essential services in direct contact with the public. – Guardian

Airbus is facing the “gravest crisis the aerospace industry has ever known”, the pan-European plane-maker said as it slumped to €481m (£418m) loss because of coronavirus. Posting figures for the three months to the end of March, chief executive Guillaume Faury said group revenues fell 15pc to €10.6bn. – Telegraph

Britain’s biggest lobby group for property companies has started to thrash out a deal with the Treasury to secure support for landlords facing billions of pounds in lost or deferred rents. John Glen, economic secretary to the Treasury, and Robert Jenrick, the communities secretary, held emergency talks with the British Property Federation yesterday to respond to landlords’ fears of a mass non-payment of rent at June’s quarter rent day. – The Times

The government’s new loans for small businesses may fail to launch on Monday as planned because of legal problems and the need to create new digital systems, according to senior bankers. The “bounceback” scheme offering 100 per cent government-backed loans of up to £50,000 is expected to plug unmet demand among micro businesses locked out of existing coronavirus loans. – The Times