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.?

What are you on about? How on earth is it taking advantage?

It’s a good thing and the government are encouraging it.

What a nasty, spiteful, jealous thread to start op. Not to mention ignorant and misinformed.

Maybe get some facts to hand before posting eh?

I am not sure why furlough did not similarly have a cut off to keep high earners off the scheme - I genuinely hadn't thought of that.

It simply had not occurred to me before I read that on here - of course, its good that people are not going to lose everything and can feed their families, but when people are on benefits those are capped. If someone is on say £100k do they really need to be given 80% of that and if, as I think some will pile on and say, yes they do NEED the £80k then of course those people would support higher levels of UC etc so that people aren't destitute and struggling to eat, once things go back to "normal" - ?

BTW no objection at all to companies topping up, I don't think it's the same argument.

Why shouldn’t a high earner be involved in the scheme? Why should someone who’s worked their arse off all their life, not received ANY benefits whatsoever, including child benefit, be thought of as taking the piss in this situation?!

For the same reason SE people who earn over £50k have been told the government can’t support an 80% of their income? Aka there isn’t enough money? People who are employed aren’t the only one who have the lifestyle associated with their income! And they are paying all their taxes too. Like someone who is employed (but wo the benefit of having a paid hols, paid sick days or help for setting up a pension....)

I mean people who are SE do have things still have things to pay even though they can’t work anymore. Maybe they are renting prémices (I have a few friends in that case). Maybe they’ve invested money and still need to pay the loan they took to do that. Maybe they bought products to sell and need to pay their suppliers.
Basically ANY cost that a business incur even when they are not trading are also incurred when a SE person isn’t trading.

Sorry post too quickly.

SE will still have to pay all those people wo any income at all let alone talk about being able to feed themselves and their family.

Employed people only have to feed their families after all....

Tongue in cheek in case anyone hadn’t noticed but my issue is the idea that somehow some people are more ‘worthy’ than others wo a thought for the ones who are struggling even more but have been they can’t be helped ‘bevause there isn’t enough money’, money that could be found for people who are, after all, in a very similar position.

Both mine and DH's companies are paying 100% of salary, the only thing DH wont get is his 7.5% increase that's because as a charity shop manager this was based on his hours going up by 2.5 hours a week to compensate the managers for having to be in early to open up and late to cash up and of course as he is not doing the extra hours whilst in lockdown he wont get it which is fair enough he actually runs 2 shops so he loses the extra he gets for travel between the 2 which of course is fair enough

Lucky you!

I'm confused now - just reading that there IS a cap; so HM Gov pays 80% of wages up to £3,125 a month which is equivalent to paying a gross salary of £2,500 a month and its subject to tax and national insurance.

@arethereanyleftatall

That's not correct, there's a whole package of support for self employed who had profits over £50k. There is also Universal Credit at an enhanced rate.

OP, quite frankly, you sound jealous of your friend. Her employer is doing their bit to keep their employees on board.

@DishingOutDone - If someone is on say £100k do they really need to be given 80% of that...

They don't get 80% of that. They get £2,500 as that is the cap on the scheme.
Someone on £100k could be getting twice that normally in their salary after tax.

@DishingOutDone

Yes, so someone on minimum wage will be less worse off than someone earning a lot more.
If my DH was furloughed, his wage would go down to £290 pw, a drop of about £50. His firm are not topping up those they have had to furlough.
If he earned £75k, that equates to approx £1000 per week net, but he would only get around £580 a week under furlough, an almost 50% drop. And yes, it's a shit load more money than my DH gets, but I'm assuming they would have associated expenses such as a bigger mortgage, house etc to pay for.

@Soontobe60
Oooh is there? That's great, I'll look in to that thank you. I thought dh and I were set to get nothing. Me, self employed, less than 3 years books. Him, self employed, over £50k.

The maximum anyone can get (the cap) is £2500 a month and then this has tax and NI deducted.

As others have said. Higher earners aren't getting more than the 2500 a month. There is a cap on what people can get.

Most businesses are making up the 20%.

I'm more bothered that MPs are getting 10k to enable them to WFH ....."because they might need a laptop and a printer..."
a) what percentage of MPs (who already earn a decent salary and can claim expenses for all manner of things) don't already have a laptop or printer
b) do they even know the average cost of a laptop and printer...?

Sounsociable
I agree this really grated.

Every single 10k is money taken from something else. Maybe someone should be standing in front of a red battle bus about - eh Boris. MP’s have basically been giving a 6.5 million bonus to stay at home!!

* Why shouldn’t a high earner be involved in the scheme? Why should someone who’s worked their arse off all their life, not received ANY benefits whatsoever, including child benefit, be thought of as taking the piss in this situation?! For someone taking home a lot more than the 2.5k, they will loose a lot of money each month if furloughed. Mortgages. Bills etc. These will also be higher I imagine than a low earned. We all live to our means. So actually the well off, will be hit harder!! *
Not hearing many moan tho hey?! If it was the other way round we would I’m sure!!

This.

My ex (with whom on very good terms with) on £170k a year).
Never claimed a penny. Pays all taxes. Never used the NHS. Pays generous child maintenance to me. Very much supports local restaurants and shops.

Likely to be furloughed with no top up at all.

The impact of him not receiving the £2.5k gross would be significant and also impact me and the children and.... would be bloody unfair!

You sound jealous more than anything else OP

@arethereanyleftatall you don't need 3 years tax returns, as long as you've filed a tax return for the last tax year you can claim support. They're just using up to 3 yrs tax returns to average earnings for the 80%.

Dishing, there is a cap for furloug - so if you earn £100k a year you still only get furlough money your employer claims from the state of £2000 (80% of 2500) but you do at least get the £2000.I think some pretty rich footballers for example on £200k a week can get that £2k a month on furlough whereas a single mother on £55k who is self employed is over the £50k cap of the self employed scheme)

Even Bringing's ex because he is an employee on £170k, not self employed over £50k would get the £2k a month furlough if the employer chose to claim it whereas were he self employed being over £50k would mean not a penny

My husband has been furloughed with 80% from gov and 20% from company! I think it is very generous and gets rid of any stress.

There is not a "whole raft" of things to help the self employed. The options are there but limited. UC does not apply to you if as a couple you have £16k in savings (or your partner is still working) which does include investments. If you are a self employed sole trader earning over £50k you get nothing. @isthereanyleftatall you are eligible as a pp said, as long as you have at least filed a tax return last year. If you're self employed and set up as a limited company with yourself as a director you won't get anything. There is whole raft of business LOANS available but most apply to businesses that have premises. Some don't but there is a lot in the news about them being impossible to get / banks are trying to charge 30% interest rates / make the business owners personally liable for the loan (eg put their house on the line), despite 80% of the loans being underwritten by government.

Green isn't a good colour on you op