Furloughed but not guaranteed to receive 80% ?

[Heldupwithscaffolding]

DH has been furloughed. Employers are a smallish family run business and have said they will apply for the Government Scheme , but it's not open until end of April.

In the meantime they say that they cannot afford the salary bill, so DH will get £150 a week (some sort of statutory payment I think).

Is anyone else in this position ? I was just wondering as I've heard many say they have been furloughed and are getting 80% of their salary, but how do they know this for sure if the application system is not open yet ? And once it is open it will presumably be inundated and goodness knows how long it will take for a decision.
Have I got the wrong end of the stick.

I think he is lucky to get 150 a week now and then will get the rest. My dh gets nothing now and his employer will repay him after they get Govt grant. Technically furloughed staff does not have to be paid at all. Pre covid days furlough was unpaid leave

It's what employers have been asked to do if they have no funds.

The portal for employers is due to be open next Monday 20th, so hopefully payments wont take long to process once claims go in
His employers should then pass on the remainder of his outstanding furloughed wages.

Its shit for you OP, but lots of small companies are the same atm.

I've been saying this for weeks and people have said I'm wrong but currently there are no clear guidance on who will actually be able to claim furlough. I know lots of businesses that are waiting for confirmation before they pay, because they are only keeping staff on because of the furlough and would otherwise have let them go.
Also its 80% of salary and then tax NI taken off.

I've been furloughed and I'm paid weekly so I've already been paid. I got 80% of my earnings this tax year minus NI and minus holiday pay.

My employer is paying us out of their own pocket until the grant arrives. Not sure how, possibly with a loan.

Thank you. The Company are good employers and they have shown concern .
I think they are worried about it though, as they have said they will apply and see if they are successful , and in the meantime staff should apply for mortgage freeze and be frugal . They are not exactly instilling confidence which is a bit concerning .
I agree we are lucky that at least there will be some payment until it gets sorted out which is more than many.

Fingers crossed.

The guidance is quite clear so employers should know who is eligible and the arrangements should be in place. Furloughed employees must consent to furlough. HMRC have committed to the portal being open on 20th April and the first payments issued by 30th April.

Some companies do not have the cash available to fund the salary bill and will be unable to pay until the grant is received. If this is the case, the company would have gone bust anyway. (Of course, different story if directors do have the cash and just won't pay out).

It sounds like OP's husband is receiving the £29 daily lay off rate in the meantime.

Yes possibly business loan or go into overdraft for the larger organisations who have access to this. And they must just be pretty sure that they will be successful in getting paid back by the Government.

Thank you Olly that's very useful

OllyBJolly I disagree, until the portal to claim is open it is not clear. If you look at the Corona business loans on paper it looked very promising, in reality the offer is poor. I am hopeful that it will be a clear a d easy process but I understand why cash strapped business are not paying out until it is confirmed.

In the meantime they say that they cannot afford the salary bill, so DH will get £150 a week (some sort of statutory payment I think). Statutory payment is £29 per day for a maximum of 5 days in any 3 month period, ie £145 for the first week and nothing for the next 12.

The payment is administered by the employer, so most employers are paying the 80%, in the expectation of being reimbursed in due course.

Technically furloughed staff does not have to be paid at all. Pre covid days furlough was unpaid leave Technically, theydo have to be paid. Pre-covid, furlough was known as "laid-off" (whereas now "laid-off" seems to be used for having your employment terminated), and there's a government statutory payment, as I said above.

It sounds like OP's husband is receiving the £29 daily lay off rate in the meantime. Yes, but daily lay-off rate only has to be paid for 5 days in any 13 week period. It's not £29 per day every week.
www.gov.uk/lay-offs-short-timeworking/guarantee-pay

They won't be able to apply if they haven't run a payroll, you can't apply on spec and then backdate the payments to the employees.

Someone has misunderstood or communicated it badly, that's not how it works. The 80% is the maximum the govt will reimburse, employers can choose to pay any percentage or none.

Business loans are really hard to get for small firms, since the financial crash it’s almost impossible. It should be short term so hopefully it’s only a few weeks or so to manage. I think there are crisis loan options if you can’t make ends meet in the wait period.

Employers are expected to pay staff now if they can and then claim once the scheme is up and running. I saw an email from HMRC yesterday that has been sent to businesses:

“We want to help you get ready to make a claim under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.

If you’re eligible for the scheme, there are things that you can do now to be ready when the system is up and running later this month “

Key points being if you are eligible for the scheme and the scheme not being ready until towards the end of April

OllyBJolly I disagree, until the portal to claim is open it is not clear. If you look at the Corona business loans on paper it looked very promising, in reality the offer is poor. I am hopeful that it will be a clear a d easy process but I understand why cash strapped business are not paying out until it is confirmed

The loans (CIBL) is a completely separate scheme from the Job Retention Scheme which is a grant. What's not clear about the Job Retention Scheme? The rules are on the HMRC website.

I have had to furlough 2 staff. I'm paying them from a very small amount of money in the business account but that won't last long. I have less money to live on than I'm paying them but I really want to try and pay them as it's terrible for everyone and I'd feel terrible if they had no money. Probably why I'll never get rich in business.

daily lay-off rate only has to be paid for 5 days in any 13 week period
I didn't know this. I thought it would be every week. Shit!

They won't be able to apply if they haven't run a payroll, you can't apply on spec and then backdate the payments to the employees
I didn't know this either.

Crikey, so the company has to show that they have paid employees the 80% up front and then they can apply to claim it back. I don't think this will be happening in our case unless the employer can get a business loan, there was some mention of this.

Employers are breaching the contract of employment by not paying.

Furlough does not give carte Blanche to employers to do what they want.

Having said that there is not much else out there for staff