Stay at home, go to work

[sunshine19781]

What is deemed absolutely necessary when deciding to go to work? Many self employed, builders for example, will want or crack on with their jobs so they get paid. Has Boris done enough?

@Etinox they've now changed that slide, someone must have messed up the original wording. To 'work from home if possible'.

Etinox's screengrab was put out by Number 10. But it was a mistake by them. Is here (updated, corrected version!) on their Twitter.

twitter.com/10DowningStreet/status/1242216260022173697

Until CEOs and Bosses of non-essential businesses stop putting their profits above their staffs health NOTHING will change.

Did he not see the pictures of the tube in London this morning ??

ALL non essential factories/offices/businesses need to be closed to stop all the unnecessary travel which is spreading this killer.

People keeping their businesses open need to understand how deeply immoral they are being. If pub/club/restaurant owners are forced to close and take the limited financial help - why do they consider themselves more entitled to earn money. Every employee they make travel to work because they refuse to close , is another person THEY are DIRECTLY responsible for adding to the spread.

Completely unacceptable. We don't need a law, or a prime minister's speech. Business owners should have the moral turpitude to realise this for themselves !!

Italy has just closed non-essential companies ... way too slow !!

Listen up Boris and ACT now !!

People are still going to work in Italy by the way. Advice is clear here if you can work
From home your should. If you can avoid public transport you can still go to work

Just read a very interesting bill on the parliament website, measures being drafted to help self employed so watch this space. Hopefully it will be approved very shortly.

If you run a business then YOU take your own risk for your own income . Business owners should not be forcing employees to commute/travel purely to keep their business afloat. They should close and let the employees take the 80% on offer. In the interest of their workers health .. Small businesses owners need to apply for the loans on offer.

All business owners not in essential occupations should close. Their employees health is more important.

Fargallrocks but if you can't drive and your boss won't shut down you have to go on public transport. If you don't go and they stay open you get nothing !

Business owners refusing to do this are putting profits ahead of health .

Italy has just closed all non essential businesses.

@horsesaremylife not sure if someone has already said this but the 80% thing for workers is where the employer placed the workers on furlough and pays them 80% of their wage which they will claim back from the government in the future. It’s to prevent people being laid off and to make sure they have a job to go back to when this is over. I’m just concerned you’re misunderstanding what this is. It’s not that your husband would lay them off and they’ll claim that from somewhere. He pays them 80%.

"People keeping their businesses open need to understand how deeply immoral they are being."
For the second time my DH is keeping his business open so that he can carry on paying his staff who need the money too survive this is the complete opposite from immoral in fact short term if everyone in his field stops working them he would reduce his outgoings as other all his overheads would go down. If the government in the morning says it will absolutely guarantee that they will pay 80% of his staffs wages if he lays them off to reduce their risk of getting Covid19 he will cheerfully lay them all off imediately and make up the 20%. But most businesses believe as LalalalalaLlama says "Businesses can only use the 80% if there is no work for employees."
So please stop assuming all employers are greedy and immoral, many like my DH are looking after their staffs welfare and trying to do the right thing for them.

I am a keyworker (technically) but NHS admin and can fully work from home. However as guidelines say Keyworkers are allowed to travel my boss is not letting anyone work from home

Lots of people don't understand how the government is going to pay 80% salaries.
Business owner have to apply to their banks and beg them for money. The banks will decide. It is not as simple as many people think. That's why businesses don't want to close yet as the process of their employees getting 80% is not clear yet.

I also agree that bosses are the problem. Most (not all) of the people posting here are employees who are expected to still be going to work. They see their business as more important than their employees health. Very sad.

@Itsmybirthdaytoday20 my husband is concerned that you have to state your reason for furloughing your staff. He has 5 months work his only reason would be to further reduce their risk of Covid19 (he has already implemented lots of other things to reduce their risk) the government are currently not saying that this is or isn't an acceptable reason.

He and others in his field and Im sure others in different areas have taken extensive advise from this who should know but no one knows if this reason will be deemed acceptable. The HMRC are meant to be producing a claim form and they're hoping guildlines on who and why you can claim but as of today it hadn't been done so no one really knows.

I saw this on Twitter earlier about workers in the construction industry.

There’s been no mention or guidance around call centres, my husband works in a large mobile telephone network call centre, his job is in sales, so selling new mobile phone contracts. Huge office, 100’s of workers all sItting close together, sharing same canteen/toilet facilities as well as desks when shift changes over. He has been told they have to continue working, terrified that he will get Coronavirus in this environment. Wish government would tell them to shut down

@horsesaremylife I would advise speaking to your accountant about it. They’d be the best placed people to advise you. I did read a statement from an accountant earlier basically saying the furloughing won’t help as many people as we might think but that was before tonight’s new measures.

@Lunar567 the government are saying the 80% will come from the HMRC not the bank. You can get bank business loan at a favourable rate but my DH said why wold you do this? You might for late or delayed payment but not to cover a wage bill as you will not recoup it in the future.
*@Itsmybirthdaytoday20I also agree that bosses are the problem. Most (not all) of the people posting here are employees who are expected to still be going to work. They see their business as more important than their employees health. Very sad."
What do you want bosses to do? Lay people off find out they are not entitled to the 80% then say to there employees "sorry lads I know I laid you off four weeks ago thinking the HMRC will pay you 80% of your wages but we didn't meet the criteria because when we laid you off no one said what it was going to be, so you're not getting it, never mind you'll all be ok wont you?

That's not quite right @Lunar567

You are mixing up the Job Retention Scheme which HMRC pays and is 80% of furloughed workers wages

With the CBILS Covid Business Interruption Loan Scheme which is the one administered by banks and has to be repaid.

The govt has said HMRC will make payments to employers of the 80% before the end of April.

@Itsmybirthdaytoday20 thank you for that piece of advise. Its amazing my DH runs a very successful business but doesn't have sufficient intelligence to have worked out for himself that it might be useful to speak to his accountant about this sort of thing. Oh wait he has spoken to his accountant and guess what he doesn't know either. Neither do the accountants of others business owners in his field. Neither did the FSB.

Let's hope that tomorrow some clear guidelines on furloughing your staff will be published.

Funny how I can’t visit my elderly DM but I’m allowed to serve hundreds of customers with all sorts of germs with cans of paint and compost in a very non essential DIY store!