Employer choosing not to accept 80% offered by the government

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DH company are not accepting the 80% offered they are putting people on unpaid leave.

I know makes no sense, can an employee claim it if the company can’t be bothered to?

No. The government are offering a grant to employers whose employees cannot work due to this crisis and who they keep on their books rather than making them redundant.

An employer does not have to apply for the grant if they don't wish to. They can put their employees on unpaid leave, they can make them redundant, they can even close their company permanently if they wish.

The grant is to incentivise employers to keep their staff on their books and thus reduce unemployment (because otherwise a large %age of the country could end up unemployed).