Gary Hull, an employment consultant from PricewaterhouseCoopers, says a rise in the uptake of the scheme will mean a higher cost to the Exchequer, but need ‘clarity’ on how they can use it.

“One of the things that we are all looking for is some clarity around the of the scheme so that understand what the Inland Revenue are prepared to accept, and employers understand what is not acceptable,” he told the programme.

The government’s options include officially opening or closing the scheme to all industries, or making it to the 300,000 workers in the sector at present.