Furlough HELP

[AnnaC2020]

Hi there

I’m 27 weeks pregnant, have asthma and am immunosuppressed.

I work in a care home as a care assistant so am an essential worker.

I am unable to work due to the above conditions and the Covid-19 outbreak so have been on sick leave since beginning of March. Now the furlough scheme came out my employer has denied my furlough even though they have allowed the cook - essential worker but has angina, the admin staff, and the activities co-ordinator to go on furlough. My sick leave ended on 13th of April and have only been contacted by work today to say that I don’t ‘qualify’ for furlough.

Is there anything I can do about this? I’m waiting on the nurse at my GP surgery calling me back this afternoon as I haven’t had a letter through but neither has anyone in my family who has COPD etc

Hi,
Did your employer not ask you to sign a furlough agreement form?

What reason di they give for you not qualifying?

You can’t be furloughed if your job is still required. Maybe they have found a way to cover the other roles but not yours. Furlough is only for people who are not needed at the moment.

@Lampan, that is not true. You can be furloughed if you are shielding or even if you live with someone who is shielding. You can also be furloughed if you are unable to work due to childcare. However, the key thing for the op is that your employer has to agree and as far as I am aware, there is no ‘right’ to be furloughed and employers can’t be forced to offer it if they don’t want to.

You cannot be furloughed if your job is required (eg they need to hire a temp) it's unfortunate but the taxpayer support is for jobs that don't exist. I have asked about being furloughed and been told no too

@okiedokieme just been told by HMRC this isn’t the case at all and you can be furloughed if you’re a key worker