Tens of thousands of US government workers have reportedly accepted an offer from the Trump administration to resign.

This, as the clock counts down ahead of a Thursday night deadline.

Federal employees have until midnight on Thursday to decide to step down in exchange for continued pay until September 30th 2025.

BBC News says so far, more than 1% of that workforce has chosen to take part – which is between 20,000 to 40,000 federal workers.

The White House, which previously said it expected as many as 200,000 people to accept, and have reportedly told US media that they expect a spike in participation in the next 24 hours.

The resignation scheme is part of an ongoing effort by the Trump administration to slash the size of the federal bureaucracy and cut spending.