Furloughed but company making up salary

[daffodilbrain]

A friend had been furloughed but her company is making up the balance of her salary - surely this can't be right? And it's big business taking advantage.?

I thought this was a good thing!? My dh is being furloughed and is on well over 50k his employer are paying him his full salary and then just claiming back the 2.5k

My company’s doing this; I think it’s great. A lot aren’t and people are having to live on a 20 percent pay cut. What’s the issue?

My employer is doing the same. Definitely not a big organisation and the directors are lovely, amazing people.

It's fine to furlough people on 100%.they will still be claiming just the 80% from the government and simply topping up.

It's perfectly fine

Unless your friend is being made to work whilst furloughed

OP has confused people. I assumed they meant making up as in falsely inflating the salary amount in order to claim more £ from gov

OP has confused people. I assumed they meant making up as in falsely inflating the salary amount in order to claim more £ from gov

My initial assumption was that OP somehow thought the employee was back working with the gov now paying 80% of salary, employer 20%.

Hope OP returns to clarify.

If you're normally paid £1,000 a month gross but have been furloughed (as an alternative to being made redundant) the employer can claim 80% of the employee's earnings back under the Job Retention Scheme.

It's entirely up to the employer if they want to tip it up to 100% of the salary.

I can't see how this is "big business" taking an advantage?

The employee must not do any work during this time. If the employer is asking the employee to work while they're claiming the refund, this is v v dodgy and they should be punished.

Hardly taking advantage.

Plenty of companies are doing this.

I'm furloughed and getting 100% as the company are making up the 20%. That's an option that's open to employers

I suspect OP may be saying that employers should only furlough if their backs are against the wall and the only way they can stay afloat is to take govt money. I.E. if you can have any spare funds you should be keeping people on as normal, not furloughing and topping up.

This fundamentally misunderstands how businesses work, the scale of the uncertainty caused by Covid19 and the policy behind the furloughing scheme.

Employers genuinely don't know in many cases how this is going to pan out. They have a responsibility to keep the business going for the sake of employees amongst other things. If an employer waits until their last grand in the bank before furloughing their chances of having a business with any jobs for people to come back to are hugely reduced. And this isn't just a SME issue - plenty of "big business" is very uncertain and in addition the liabilities and cash flows on a large business are like an oil tanker - it takes a long time to slow it down so you need to apply the brakes early.

The job retention scheme is designed with all this in mind.

Are you confused OP? it appears that the company are doing exactly what is intebded by the process and should be appluaded for making up teh 20% many are not.

Mine are, so it adds up to 90%

Ok I take it I'm wrong I just thought with all the other expense of the country i just question someone £60k plus should have 2.5k govt funded

It is a generous scheme and I think it's incredible we as a nation can do this I just didn't realise employers were topping up still

Why shouldn’t on a 60k + salary not be funded if fourlough? Don’t do they pay taxes like the one that earns 18k? In fact we pay taxes and so so that when things like this happens people can also have some money back ... people on 60k+ also have bills to pay.
In fact someone 60k + will be earning normally 4-4.5k so they’ll only get 2.5k. Hence they are going to suffer a massive salary cut. If their company wants to top it up til their normal salary I see no problem

The problem with the scheme is that for some it's bonkers generous - 100% of pay for some with no going to work costs, (lucky them), and for some it's not - 0% of pay for others, some with bills to pay themselves (they're fucked).

My company are doing this, but only for salaries up to 45k, as that’s what they can afford to top up to, without the individual being out of pocket.

Company going over and above to support its workers. The bastards.

DH’s company have said they will do this if they’re forced to furlough staff. He’s currently WFH but if business slows down anymore they will be furloughed on full pay.

Yes this is ok, it's the sign in fact if a good company who are paying out of their pocket to look after their staff. No idea why you think it wound not be on or what they bare taking advantage of

As a pp pointed out, if you're on 60k you'd be taking home a lot more than 2.5k a month and likely have a large mortgage, car payments so its good if the employer can top up. I know the various schemes aren't perfect and some people are slipping through cracks but considerimg the speed they've put it together, it's reassured a lot of people.

The government weren't banking on so many businesses taking up the offer, the amount they've set aside will be nowhere near enough.

I don't get why if you're self employed but earn over £50k you get nothing, but if you're employed and earn over £50k you do.

@arethereanyleftatall I know, it's not a fair system.

Surely it’s the responsible thing to do, if a company values staff & has the means to do so.