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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To SCREAM from the rooftops that furlough needs to be extended at least 6 more months

418 replies

Marg33t · 22/09/2020 13:19

Furlough saves jobs and saves people's health. Why is the extension not announced today?

People are losing their jobs at a rapid rate as it's near to the 30-45 days for consultations for redundancies. It needs to be extended or more people will lose their jobs. Other counties are running it until next year and it makes me feel sick that we aren't protecting and saving jobs!

OP posts:
Browneyesbigbum · 22/09/2020 13:59

Not affordable or sustainable.

Let's face it some have been sat around at home being paid since March. Now that cannot go on forever. It has to stop. It has to be paid for by people who are going out to work!

lioncitygirl · 22/09/2020 13:59

And I’m sure you ALSO have a plan on where the money is going to come from right?????

Browneyesbigbum · 22/09/2020 14:00

Jobs are not saved at all, it just an expensive delay.

this 100%

Leafbeans · 22/09/2020 14:05

The issue is that things will be different for a long time, the only things not operating at all such as conference centres etc are really not going to find themselves inundated even when this is over, as many businesses etc found ways to do this remotely as they have had to. The travel industry will take an awfully long time to return to 'normal', and as sad as it is for people, where does the line get drawn? It doesn't help that the rules for furlough were pretty loose and have been used by businesses who didn't actually need to.

wintertime6 · 22/09/2020 14:05

It really is just a delay. I personally know quite a few people who have been made redundant since the start of August, from a wide range of industries, and this is just the start of it. It's very sad and a worrying time for lots of people, but the next few months are going to be extremely bleak.

justasking111 · 22/09/2020 14:07

@Marg33t

Furlough saves jobs and saves people's health. Why is the extension not announced today?

People are losing their jobs at a rapid rate as it's near to the 30-45 days for consultations for redundancies. It needs to be extended or more people will lose their jobs. Other counties are running it until next year and it makes me feel sick that we aren't protecting and saving jobs!

Do grow up OP
Batshitbeautycosmeticsltd · 22/09/2020 14:07

Furlough is like lockdowns, just kicks the can down the road. YABU.

Friendsoftheearth · 22/09/2020 14:08

Honestly can someone tell op that the magic money tree does not exist, and never has.

justasking111 · 22/09/2020 14:10

@sarahc336

Also for someone who struggled all through lock down as I'm a key worker whilst still doing my job at home so in a new way of working and trying to get my head round that whilst trying to complete child care and then listening to my neighbours having a "holiday" in their garden whilst doing up their house and having endless bbqs and drinking most nights and on almost full pay for doing nothing, then that's annoying to us key workers that have struggled on and then receive no thanks for it. We can't sustain it sorry op you may not agree with my opinion but just wanted to highlight the other type of worker during the covid pandemic not just the furloughed x
Thank you from me.
SerendipityJane · 22/09/2020 14:11

@Friendsoftheearth

Honestly can someone tell op that the magic money tree does not exist, and never has.
£110 billion and counting on Brexit says it does.
Zilla1 · 22/09/2020 14:12

To be fair, some jobs may be 'saved' by extended furlough, for example in creative industries and annually seasonal work where businesses could be viable in something like the current form with support until next Christmas 'pants' season for theatres/Summer for wedding businesses for example but the investment required to start anew might be too much, unless you take a purist free market perspective. The judgement may be about the value for money or cost per job 'saved' and the opportunity cost of what else that public borrowing could have achieved. It gets even more complicated when you think about the multiplier of expenditure, particularly if the furlough stops a toxic deflationary depression developing.

vanillandhoney · 22/09/2020 14:13

Other European countries (Germany, I think) are extending it for 21 months.

Okay. And what happens if after 21 months, those jobs still aren't available? It's just delaying the inevitable, and the tax bill is going to be massive - we'll be paying this off for tens if not hundreds of years. It's just not sustainable, but so many people aren't looking at the bigger picture.

If people are made redundant in October, they can claim UC or look for other jobs.

Witchlight · 22/09/2020 14:17

So Op, people already out of work (and likely hand to mouth if they’ve been unemployed for some time) will continue to get benefits, but people who we know will loose their jobs as soon a furlough ends, but have a reasonable standard of living now, to get £2.5k per month?

I would be happier if the government announced a temporary national wage. More than the benefits amount, so the higher current costs can be met, but available automatically to workers - furloughed or not. Any higher payments to be met by the company. That way, everybody has access to a basic amount.

Zilla1 · 22/09/2020 14:18

Serendipity, agreed. NI unionist £bns after May's GE fiasco. Directly awarded contracts with no VFM to pet suppliers during COVID. Endless examples. Which industry was the priority for single market access (financial services - were there to be ongoing payments to EU budget for preferential access?)

Tigger001 · 22/09/2020 14:19

The problem is there will be NO other jobs, people are being forced into poverty.

People are loosing their jobs through no fault of their own, with no opportunities opening up due to companies closing or downsizing.

You then have hundreds of thousands of people all trying to claim not nearly enough to get by, they then look to other routes of keeping there families. Crime will inevitably increase, stretching our already undefunded police, mental health issues will rise putting strain on an already stretched department, alchol, drug addictions, DV rises it just puts the whole of society into a downward spiral having so many of society poor and jobless through no fault of their own.

Witchlight · 22/09/2020 14:19

The slightly higher amount available to those on benefits too, I hastened to add

AskDan · 22/09/2020 14:19

It is a sad situation but the jobs have gone now.

AndAnotherUsername · 22/09/2020 14:19

I think benefits need to be equalised fairly for all non-working people.

Doesn’t make sense for the state to pay some people more, because of a job they did 6 months ago.

Definitely made sense for a short time whilst there was hope of businesses ramping back up to normal soon.

People need to be incentivised to let go of dead jobs and look for something productive to do.

MaxNormal · 22/09/2020 14:22

This is good to know. Almost 80% of Mumsnet is happy to see industries not legally allowed to operate, tank and go under, and millions lose their jobs, yet will wail and wail and berate anyone not following "the rules".
If you don't give a shit about me and my family, it seems a bit of a stretch to expect me to give a shit about yours.

And no I don't support ongoing lockdown measures, I'd rather our household was allowed to earn their income!

Heyahun · 22/09/2020 14:22

Totally agree - even if it’s a new furlough just for the entertainment/hospitality/travel industry or something !

Furlough does save jobs - 25 staff at the company I work at are all going to be back at work doing their usual hours as of next week - that’s 25 jobs saved - sick of people saying it just delays people being made redundant! Not always the case

52andblue · 22/09/2020 14:23

@ChaChaCha2012

Tax payers have paid for PPE contracts that produced nothing, testing and tracing that is ineffectual, an app that never even materialised, the utter shitshow that is Brexit, and HS2 which has zero economic benefit. If people are saying we can't afford furlough, I trust they're up in arms about the aforementioned?
100 % this !!!

Well said, @ChaChaCha2012

LivingOnAnIsland · 22/09/2020 14:23

Scream all you like, it won't make it affordable.

SerendipityJane · 22/09/2020 14:24

People are loosing their jobs through no fault of their own

Clearly some youngsters here. The narrative since 1979 has always been it's your fault for losing and/or not finding a job. Old Normo Tebbs and his "on his bike" attitude.

This isn't me being cynical, but you voting for Tories.

Isn't there fruit that needs picking ? Presumably it's what people eat to become fruitcakes ?

As for starving to death, isn't there a view about the surplus population ?

crowsfeet57 · 22/09/2020 14:25

Super plan! How do you suggest we pay for it?

MaxNormal · 22/09/2020 14:26

Super plan! How do you suggest we pay for it?

Great, if we can't afford it, let affected sectors operate. Just don't have the bare-faced gall to complain about any deaths please.