Runaways will be let off if they say they did not mean to abscond or forgot they were due back from temporary leave.

Some part-time and casual staff have been placed on the temporary leave initiative.

Under the original scheme, the government has been paying 80 per cent of the salaries of workers put on temporary leave by their employer, up to £2,500 a month.

Teachers had been forced to take temporary leave each year for the past three years because of budget shortfalls, and have not had a pay rise in seven years.

As they took temporary leave of their senses, they pushed the price of shares down far further than was justified by what turned out to be the fundamental facts.