The scheme would be accessible only to banks that have set aside enough bad loan provisions.

He said that the decision had stopped £8 billion being paid out when the economy was going into lockdown, which has resulted in £20 billion of bad loan provisions so far.

Its survey said that a third of the sector also expected to increase bad loan provisions and that lending to construction and property companies was set to fall again.

To illustrate this, consumers may review the loan provisions on their permanent policy.

Employers, of course, have the option to make their plan's loan provisions more restrictive.