FILE PHOTO: Property sale and rental signs are seen next to a street sign in London, October 18, 2014. REUTERS/Toby Melville

LONDON (Reuters) - British banks and other lenders have provided payment holidays for one in nine mortgages as part of a push to help households whose finances have been impacted by COVID-19, UK Finance, an industry group, said on Tuesday.

As of April 8, more than 1.2 million mortgage borrowers had been offered a payment holiday by their lender, up from just over 392,000 on March 25, it said.

“For the average mortgage holder, the payment holiday amounts to 260 pounds per month of suspended interest payments, with many benefiting from the option of extending the scheme for up to three months,” UK Finance said.