Government schemes to support firms and self-employed workers hit by the covid-19 pandemic have paid the wages of nearly 1.5m construction workers, according to new data from HM Revenue and Customs.

The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) for furloughed employees and the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) has seen the Treasury fork out £4.6bn to construction workers by the end of last month.