Treasury Minister Alfred Cannan says the coronavirus pandemic has caused widespread disruption to the lives of the vast majority of the population.

Speaking at a press briefing on Tuesday, he revealed a sharp rise in the number claiming unemployment benefit.

And he said that more than £1m of public funds had been expended so far in providing financial support to businesses. He said some were facing a ’serious and significant’ drop in income and the disruption varied from household to household and business to business.

’Some of you will now be collecting welfare support for the first time,’ he said.

’For all of you this must be a massive shock and a time of worry and uncertainty.’

Mr Cannan said the number of people registered for Job Seekers’ Allowance, and indicating they are unemployed, had gone up by 457 in the last few weeks, which he described as a ’significant increase on recent figures’.

Latest figures show unemployment more than doubled in March to 850, up from 389 in February and a rise of 501 on March last year.

It’s the highest level in five years.

The unemployment rate is now 2.0%, an increase of 1.1% on the previous month.

The Minister said 1,143 had applied for direct financial support from the new MERA Covid benefit which launched on Monday.

Mr Cannan said registration for the salary support scheme that will help companies keep staff in jobs will open online shortly after the Easter weekend.

There have been 2,327 applications for grants under the business support scheme, he added.

’We have already paid out over £1m to qualifying businesses and expect to continue to receive applications. We are working as fast as possible to process these claims,’ he said.

Mr Cannan accepted that there had been some element of confusion, delay and misunderstanding with the processing and Treasury was working with the Department for Enterprise ’to understand these issues and bring clarity’.

But he said government had a responsibility to the taxpayer to ensure funds were spent properly.

And he warned the ’firmest of actions’ would be taken against anyone who deliberately set out to misappropriate public money.

He said the sector by sector approach to government support had been undertaken with the protection of public funds in mind.

Treasury will continue to consider whether the schemes need to be broadened, he added.

Guidance will shortly be available to allow any business to write to the chief financial officer explaining why assistance is required and how it will sustain jobs.