AIBU to think this furlough loophole is fucking people over?

[AHousefulOfScreenagers]

Please someone tell me I am reading this wrong. Please!

After an absolute fucker of a year financially, this could be the final straw. DH broke his leg earlier this year and his job ended. Since then he has worked wherever, whenever and for whomever he can (agency work, care/cleaning/warehouse - absolutely anything!) Pre May this was just about OK, in May the agency he was working for furloughed him for three weeks then let them all go. Since May he has worked anywhere and everywhere he can but obviously it is much harder to get work...

He has been working via an agency since beginning September. It appears from the government advice (screenshot attached) he will not be eligible for furlough, as he has not been there since June.

Please tell me I am reading this wrongly. So many people must be in this boat, who have lost or changed jobs, what the fuck happens to us?!

(Honestly we have done absolutely everything we can to raise/earn money so I know people mean well but I don't need any suggestions eg eBay). I am applying for absolutely anything I could physically do, which isn't much as I am disabled (I do get PIP) but unsurprisingly no one wants me.

Retail, care, cleaning, warehouse, labouring etc is overrun with applicants here and it's a fucking nightmare. Agencies and huge household names treat people so badly - don't pay you, pay you late, promise you a contract but then get you in for one day (obviously to cover sickness) and then never ring you again, ask you to turn up to a job then send you home....etc) DH has worked so hard and we have done the absolute best we can and been wired to the moon with stress and this is the final fucking straw.

Please someone tell me I am reading it wrongly? What do they expect people, who have tried their best and worked hard, to do (well I know the answer, they don't give a fuck do they.)

Hope you get this sorted soon. It’s so confusing having so many different schemes.

Not directly related but yesterday morning I saw an update on shielding that said no not go to work if you can’t work from home, that’s now changed to you can go to work except in higher risk areas, it seems like they rushed stuff out and it’s being tweaked. I hope it works out for you.

Also remember it's up to the employer whether you're furloughed if you qualify. Hopefully most employers will furlough those who were on the payroll as per the updated rules - but some won't.

You're all very kind. I have my fingers crossed.

It is really hard out there, we have never seen anything as bad (and I was in the finance sector in 2009). DH has always been able to get temporary work when needed in the past as he will literally do anything. The amount of fucking people over that seems to be going on with employers and especially agencies recruiting and then just using them to cover staff self isolation is horrific. And of course people have no choice but to take what they're offered - Grapes of Wrath style (yes I realise it's not the 30s but the race to the bottom scenario never goes away).

And I WANT A JOB TOO. For people like me it's just going to get harder. When there are 100s of people for a post, who is going to give it to the person who has limited mobility. There are so many piss take "self employed but not" and "deliver as and when" driver jobs - I saw one the other day offering £1 per drop within 2.5 miles and £2 over £2.5 miles Again, a household name. I can't even get a delivery job myself anyway as I'm epileptic but it's not the point.

Oh the "shielding". The "shielding" (I can tell I'm going to spend the day ranting )

DO NOT LEAVE THE HOUSE.

You are going to have to wait until parliament passes it... the details should be ironed out over then next 24 hours.

This is terribly therapeutic Please ignore the typos, especially the missing million

Clearly I'm not taking my parcels yet as MNing is much more interesting. No wonder no one will employ me

@walksen

I think you need to check the regulations from Nov 5. I read that you do not need to have been on furlough previously to be put on it this time. Insisting on June this time would be like I insisting you were employed in November last time. Surely that can't be right?

It's not right, the OP is looking at old guidance. But, re your other point re timing, that's exactly what happened with the self employed and why the National Audit Office report showed 2.9 million self employed were excluded from support. Only self employed who were self employed as at 5/4/19 were eligible for covid support - none at all who started s/e after 6/4/19, and even for those who started before, they were excluded if their s/e profits were less than half their total income for the 18/19 tax year, i.e. if they started self employment later in 2018/early 2019 and their wages before then were higher than profits after. So, whilst irrelevant to the OPs question, it does show the stupid/illogical nature of some of the covid support rules.

The loopholes and the lack of support for the self-employed is causing hardship for many.

The hardship would be a lot less if the government had a proper test and trace system and had acted on the SAGE advice of 21 September, which would have meant a shorter period of greater restrictions.

The lack of any cohesion and common sense with the schemes/rules and their contrariness (what word am I looking for there?) are mind boggling aren't they? I also feel for the self employed as a lot of it is just so...unfair.

Not heard from DH yet, he said he was going to ask if they had any plans re lockdown and he usually texts me at lunch...he is probably working through. Last lockdown the company (who to be fair have been fine to work for so far) closed, furloughed the directly employed staff and let the agency staff go. Which is fair enough but some of the agency staff had been there longer and were pissed off! DH is agency and ironically is the one doing all the early start and weekend overtime for them, he is a very hard worker so you would like to think they would furlough him if they close 🤞🏻 Best case scenario is they stay open as they are connected to the construction industry which hasn't been advised to close this time. (Although they probably will be now I've said that !)

In other (depressing) news there are queues outside our local supermarket again... FML as the DC say.

And yes, the "test and trace" system is a total and utter fuck up and totally infuriating given the amount of money sloshing over to private companies.

I'm amazed there hasn't been any civil unrest yet and keep thinking surely it must be in the post...not that I'm advocating for it of course, but the public do seem to be quite docile in the face of all this so far. My MP answered my first two letters (this was over a couple of months and mainly about shielding, but is now ignoring me...) I seriously feel like nailing some placards together...

The way the shielding workers have been treated is horrific. It's all very well sending a letter saying you are extremely clinically vulnerable and need to stay home to protect your health but putting nothing in place to ensure you get 80% of your wages like other people have is cruel.

My employer refused to claim the furlough for me and put me on unpaid leave. I ended up on ESA for five months and had to put essentials like food on a credit card which I'm still paying back.

If they say we have to stay home again, I'm ignoring it and going to work as I can't afford to stay off.

I certainly won't be shielding again, obviously I don't work at the moment anyway, but the risk to my mental health being inside again for more months, seems greater than the risk to my physical health. I will minimise risk but we can't totally eradicate it can we, especially when our DC are still at schools/colleges/unis and other family members going to work...

It seems they have upped the profit part of the SE scheme but (I'm definitely not an expert in this area) it still leaves a lot of people falling through the gap - eg freelancers? It all looks incredibly complicated with so many loopholes...

Some (we are still cautious and perhaps still a bit cynical) better news here, DH spoke to his boss who doesn't believe they will close due to level of business and nature of product so we are crossing our fingers. He also said if they do lay off or furlough, DH would be at the back of the queue, so that sounds encouraging. Although we have been fucked over so many times this year we wondered if he went round saying that to each member of staff...

Anyway. Hope for the best, prepare for the worst, which is all we can do isn't it. I hope things look up for everyone. stressful times indeed.