To think that furlough at 80% is FAR too generous.....

[loveyouradvice]

I'm just interested about what others think... I think fine to do this for first three months but really do feel it should be down to 60% or 70% maximum by now....

People on 80% of salary, with no travel or expenses related to working away from home, are really not doing badly .... especially since so much less to spend your money on

It is everyone else I think is having a tough time - whether its kids not getting Free School Meals in holidays, or freelancers or those who've lost their jobs....

I would prefer the "pain" to be shared.... so if on furlough, yes lots of free time and yes, having to tighten your belt a bit....

Would it not be better to pay LESS in furlough - I'm thinking around 65% - and MORE to those who don't qualify but are having a very tough time financially..... ?

Way better off with DH on 80%

I’m on SMP and wish I could be furloughed as it’s a struggle

think the cap of £2500 should be lower, but with a lower cap of 100% of NMW. If you earn more then you have a greater ability on average to put money away for a rainy day than someone on NMW. I agree.

Yellowcatss is incorrect.

I think it should be capped a lot lower than £2500 a month !

All the people saying it’s not overly generous - it’s pretty much the leader across the world in government pandemic help to the individual

@isseywith4vampirecats
Me too .. it’s shit isn’t it ,, I didn’t ask for any of this
Hopefully the leisure and retail sector isn’t the last to reopen like last time
OP it isn’t too generous at all ... it’s fucking shit , my mortgage/ food / utilities doesn’t go down 20% less . We can’t even claim universal credit
My mental health suffered VERY VERY badly during lockdown 1 , to the point I still haven’t fully recovered , now I’m back here again
You are either very comfortable, in a privileged position or just ignorant
Bore off

Yellowcatss is incorrect.

how am i incorrect i said every single penny someone gets on furlough is from the government.

Most sure he said 80% until March. 80% at the moment

It is much cheaper than having everyone on benefits- quite simple really.

[quote DramaLlama12]@isseywith4vampirecats
Me too .. it’s shit isn’t it ,, I didn’t ask for any of this
Hopefully the leisure and retail sector isn’t the last to reopen like last time
OP it isn’t too generous at all ... it’s fucking shit , my mortgage/ food / utilities doesn’t go down 20% less . We can’t even claim universal credit
My mental health suffered VERY VERY badly during lockdown 1 , to the point I still haven’t fully recovered , now I’m back here again
You are either very comfortable, in a privileged position or just ignorant
Bore off[/quote]
This.

Unpopular view maybe but l agree. Especially when not working and others are giving 110% at work. People shouldn’t be living at the point of spending 100% of their income, which l know is an especially unpopular. People don’t need Sky, new iPhone, to have another child is they can’t afford it, go on holiday etc. How is it going to be paid back?

Be glad you’re not in France or Germany with their very generous 60% and 70% schemes then

I do feel like that a bit because I'm self employed and not eligible for any support. I spent a couple of months of lockdown working 7 days a week feeling absolutely exhausted and no work has pretty much dried up completely. I know it's the risk I take being a freelancer of course...

Anyway, I think the furlough scheme is the best they could set up as anything more complicated would cost more to administer anyway. Of course it does feel extremely generous if two people in the same family are both getting £2500 a month for a whole year for doing nothing at all. But equally a single person on minimum wage is going to really struggle on 80%, let alone any less.

This is why universal basic income would be a more equal solution with no one left to completely fall through the cracks.

I think it should be 100% for those on nmw as 80% isn’t enough to live on.

I think the cap is far too generous though, you could have people getting £2k a month from the government which is a lot and if a couple of high earners that would be £4K. I’m not sure why some families are entitled to receive so much when others aren’t and I don’t like this two tier benefit system that is being created. They should be given what they’d be entitled to under universal credits (disregarding any savings/capital that they have)

@EL8888
Totally agree

The people who are forced with no choice but the live month to month get support

But even my family members who are council housed, do not work and get state benefits still manage to afford sky tv and mobiles

It’s just not necessary

Have you ever been a single parent on nmw op? Id freaking love to be back in full time work ant struggling.

I want to know who is going to be paying for all this. My children? I dread to think how their lives will be. Even harder to get on the house ladder, slogging their guts just to get an average job. Just horrible.

Assume you are one of the people who don't need to worry, have a secure income. Try losing pretty much everything you have worked for during your entire life and see how you feel about trying to keep going on even less than 80%.

And not struggling

Lots of people would be made homeless on 65% of their salary, so that's ridiculous. A £2,500 thousand cap is very generous though and that could be lowered. For someone on minimum wage, I think it should be 100%. It's far better than overloading the benefits system.

@yellowcatss

Yellowcatss is incorrect.

how am i incorrect i said every single penny someone gets on furlough is from the government.

No every single penny someone gets isn't from the government.

My staff member is on furlough. Say her salary is £1000 a month
This month the government pay me £600. I then pay her £1000 plus I pay her pension and her employer NI contributions. She pays about £25 a month in NI

So the government pays me £600. I then have employment costs of about £1150, so £550 is coming from the company. At 80% furlough from the government, I would have costs of about £350

In neither scenario is all of the money coming from the government.

Why should people suffer because of
A virus? .

For some people 80% isn't enough to cover their household bills/grocery shopping etc. These people live with 100% of their wages going on necessities, and that's having already tightened their belts.
Get off your high horse. You don't get to decide that people aren't entitled to part of their wages when they haven't chose to not be working.

@Onedropbeat

Be glad you’re not in France or Germany with their very generous 60% and 70% schemes then

Their schemes are not remotely as simplistic as 60% or 70%. They are more generous than here.

the French government has paid workers up to 70% of their gross salary – roughly equivalent to 84% of net salary – for salaries up to €6,927 (£6,340) gross per month. Workers on minimum wage have got 100% of their net salary.

First used during the 2008 financial crisis, Germany’s Kurzarbeit (“part-time work”) scheme covers 60% of the net salary of a new claimant - less than Britain’s 80%. However, “the German wage subsidy rises to up to 80% of net salary, or 87% for people with children, depending on how long you have been furloughed”.
The scheme pays out up to €6,700 (£6,130) per month for employees with children - much higher than the UK’s £2,500 cap - and has been extended until at least the end of 2021.

The German scheme also allowed people to do part time work for their company without having to come off furlough

It isn’t 80% of your salary though. It’s 80% of your salary up to £2,500. So if your salary is for example, £60k, your take home should look something like £3,600 pm however the max they can receive is £2,500. For some people (my husband included for the few weeks he was furloughed) the drop is very significant. People always live to their income and some of these outgoings won’t be able to be changed so easily. As an employer, we are very pleased to see the furlough scheme extended.

I think those on lower incomes should be on at least 80%. Tbh, they should probably be on 100% as minimum wage doesn’t go far.
I always thought it was a bit scandalous that those on high wages were given 80% of their wages for doing nothing while care home staff, Cleaners, supermarket workers, delivery drivers etc all plodded on With their minimum wage jobs all through lock down.

So those on higher wages should have been given less furlough money, maybe on a sliding scale.