The Dutch government has allocated €1.4bn to help people who lose their jobs due to the coronavirus crisis to retrain and find new work.

The money will be spent on regional teams made up of local government officials, experts from the state employment offices UWV, unions and employers, social affairs minister Wouter Koolmees told MPs in a briefing.

Some of the cash will also go towards helping people who face getting into serious debt, which can impact their ability to find a new job, the minister said.

‘The cabinet wants to give people facing uncertainty the security of knowing they can call on appropriate help to find a new job and source of income,’ Koolmees said.

MPs are due to debate the government’s third batch of measures to ease the impact of coronavirus on industry later on Thursday.

Labour leader Lodewijk Asscher had said funding to help people who lost their jobs was essential to win his party’s backing for the third round of support.

The Dutch unemployment rate is forecast to rise to 6.5% next year as the full impact of the coronavirus crisis hits.