More than 5,000 workers are due to receive their redundancy notices

The body, set up to help workers at the Longbridge plant in Birmingham, said the payout had prevented 700 redundancies among supply firms.

It has �150m of government aid to hand out in the wake of Rover's demise.

During a visit to the West Midlands on Monday, Prime Minister Tony Blair pledged to continue supporting the 5,000 MG Rover workers facing job cuts.

Retraining advice

The task force has also decided to extend a package of training and help to 750 workers at the Peugeot factory in Coventry who are losing their jobs.

Task force chairman Nick Paul said the grants, to firms which have been laying people off since Rover went into administration, would last for six weeks.

A total of 350 supplier firms have been in touch with the task force.

We are primarily concerned with whether the accounts meet the accounting standards requirements Sir Bryan Nicholson, Financial Reporting Council

Mr Paul said Jobcentre staff would see 1,000 Longbridge workers every day this week to offer other work or training, and that a "job-matching" system had also been set up to link skilled workers with local engineering vacancies.

Local Jobcentres, which were open over the weekend, say a number of firms have offered positions for ex-Longbridge workers.

Helplines have been established for the 5,000 workers, who have now started to receive redundancy notices in the post.

One of them, Kevin Flanagan, employed for 34 years, said: "It is a very sad day. To be retrained doesn't mean I will get a job - it is just another tool to get another job."

Redundancy payments

The task force includes politicians, union leaders and business officials.

The �150m support package includes more than �60m to help diversify industry in the Longbridge area, and to support MG Rover's supply chain.

We have a vital role to play in ensuring they have access to free, confidential and independent advice Sue Wigley, Citizens Advice MG Rover helpline is 'inundated'

A further �50m will fund retraining, while �40m will be used for statutory redundancy payments.

In addition to the 5,000 MG Rover jobs already lost, a further 1,000 workers kept on to complete orders could also go once the work is complete.

There was bad news for a number of Rover dealerships, with administrators PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PwC) announcing that three would close immediately with the loss of 86 jobs.

The dealerships were based in Northampton, with 18 staff, Oxford, with 25 staff, and Muswell Hill, London, with 43 employees.

'Accounting standards'

Meanwhile, the details of Rover's finances and those of its owner, Phoenix Venture Holdings, are up for investigation by the Financial Reporting Council, the regulator for corporate reporting and governance.

Orders are still being completed by 1,000 Longbridge workers

Phoenix' directors said they did not see the need for the probe into how the firm had used �450m left to it when it took over from BMW in 2000.

Its chairman, John Towers, dismissed talk of a �400m financial black hole in the accounts as "ridiculous" and said he was the victim of a "character "assassination".

He said other company bosses received more than his �200,000 annual salary and �105,000 pension.

Sir Bryan Nicholson, who heads the FRC, said: "We are primarily concerned with whether the accounts meet the accounting standards requirements."

The inquiry was announced by the government when a potential rescue deal with a Chinese firm collapsed.

Opposition parties are calling for a full independent inquiry into the car-maker's collapse.