To appreciate furlough, but anyone who started a new job after 28/02 is royally fucked...

[IchWill]

My DP left his job on 20/03. He started his new job on 23/03. His workplace shut down on 25/03. He's a head chef in a staff restaurant and can't work from home.

Quite frankly, I'm confused. The .gov.uk says you need to be employed by a company on 28/02 to be eligible for furlough. However, I saw on Twitter a Q&A with HMRC which says anyone on PAYE can be furloughed regardless of start date.

I've spoken to my free legal advice line who say that his ex-employer has no obligation to furlough him, nor does new employer either. The latter of which goes against the HMRC response. So confused. 😢

He's stuck in limbo and also not eligible for any benefits as I have employment. Unfortunately my job is a two year fixed term contract, that was looking vlikely to go permanent before all this, but is now due to end in eight weeks too.

My planned job interviews have obviously been cancelled, so no idea how I can find a job. My legal advisor says that I'm not eligible for furlough either.

I appreciate the government have acted fairly quickly, but new starter PAYE workers who started job after 28/02 fall through the gap.

Plus, I've friends who are self employed who may be eligible for help, but won't see any money until least June.

We have 3 employees in this position - unless they've made further updates the HMRC guidance was they must be on payroll on 28th Feb to be eligible.

He could contact his former employer and ask if they would re-hire him to furlough him. They'd then get the 80% of his salary. Martin Lewis has posted about it if you do a quick google you'll get more info.

Previous employer said no to request.

I've contacted my MP. He said he's expecting guidance on this in the next couple of days and will get back to me.

The self employed are worse - must have been self employed in 18/19 and must have more than 50% income from self employment so if you went from employed to SE during 18/19 you could easily fail that test unless switch was early in the year. If self employment was at roughly same earnings as PAYE previously you'd need to have been SE for 18 months to have eligibility, roughly.

Previous employer then becomes liable for his holiday pay, ssp, etc. It's not surprising they wouldn't tbh

Yes you can be furloughed, however you won’t get paid the 80% by the government if you weren’t on payroll on 28/02.

So there are two separate components -

1. a furlough And
2. the 80% payment (must have been employed on 28/02)

Yep @StatisticallyChallenged, seen that through my self employed mates. It's horrible.

And yes, I see why my DP's ex-employer wouldn't. 😢

@STAYTHEFUCKHOME I'm sorry, I don't understand your post.

If a person's contract allows it they can be placed on some form of unpaid leave - furlough, lay off (not redundancy, although it's commonly used to mean this too, bloody chancellor did it), short working etc. The government 80% basically provides financial support for this

I was officially hired by the 28th of Feb and I worked in the latter half of Feb although they hadn't actually put me on the payroll that ran in Feb, does anyone know what happens to me?

This is why a Universal Basic Income would have been a better idea. There’s no way to avoid missing out some categories of job/worker with any other system. Some people would get less, but at least everybody would get something.

DP is in same position as started in early March
Current employer has offered him SSP which means he can also claim UC for his rent and at least has a job to go back to
It’s a lot less than the 80% but I don’t see what else he can do

My husband started his new job after 28th feb so we’re screwed! I’m on SMP so he’s currently applying for as many jobs as possible!

@20Everything it's such a grey area. I don't know. I'm sorry. You're officially employed by them, so would assume you're hopefully covered.

I tweeted my MP and he asked me to email him the details. He replied immediately saying he's expecting government guidance in this in the next couple of days

It's horrible, we had to break it to the newbies. We've probably got work for one, the other two at least still live at home with their parents so not as dire.

I agree that a universal basic income might have been easier/ simpler/ more robust and not necessarily more expensive as the admin costs are going to be astronomical.

My husband is in the same boat. He started on 4th March. Arghh!

I started a new job on the 10th - I'm fuming, this seems very unfair!

It'll be fraud prevention, to stop people putting their mate/partner/teenager on payroll.

Funny how press hasn't picked this up.

Fuuuuuuuuuuck. I did not know this. I started on the 9th of March.

My husband is furloughed. On the info sheets he was sent his company state they will pay the extra 20% in April and will pay basic pay to anyone who only started after the cut off date. Maybe other companies will do this too.

So unfair, if you paid a stamp contribution in any job you should be paid, isn't it what NI/PRSI is for.

I started a new job on 2 March. Still working at present, but the possibility of furlough has been discussed, depending on what happens and whether there is enough work to do. We'll be fucked if I don't get the 80% salary.

I'd go the job centre if I didn't qualify, I'd claim every cent as an unemployed person. I know it is not a lot, you might qualify for housing benefit it will bump you. I hope it works out for anyone caught. It is disgraceful.
I hope it is a mistake on works off your contributions.

I don't know if you're aware but there is a Facebook group for people in this position - www.facebook.com/groups/3170606636496820/

And also a petition gaining traction over the past couple of days - www.change.org/p/rishi-sunak-review-the-government-furlough-scheme-to-include-workers-who-started-their-job-this-month?utm_content=cl_sharecopy_21156716_en-GB%3Av2&recruiter=31326140&recruited_by_id=b1e43bb0-f745-012f-2353-4040496dcccb&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=copylink&utm_campaign=psf_combo_share_initial&utm_term=psf_combo_share_initial

This loophole is being covered by multiple news agencies including Sky News. Also lots of people writing to their MPs and getting positive responses that it is being raised in parliament.

The movement to make the government aware of this problem is really growing and attracting attention. It might help you to join the group and get support from people in a similar situation :)

So unfair, if you paid a stamp contribution in any job you should be paid, isn't it what NI/PRSI is for.

Absolutely agree it’s unfair - and I’m a job-changer too. Not affected at the moment, job is still there but fuuuuck, it is the worst time EVER to swap jobs!

But on NI etc it is a common misconception that you pay in = they pay out. Actually, what we pay in now funds current pensioners. It’s not like a personal savings scheme (even though they sort of make it seem that way). It’s just a tax that pays for pensions being paid out now, nothing more or less.