Furlough until september

[Seesaw121]

Apparently the chansellor is being pushed to furlough until september.
Thoughts?

"blubellsarebells Sun 03-May-20 21:05:09
Furlough must be cheaper than administering universal credit to millions of people all at once.
We need to eat and pay bills, the money needs to come from somewhere. I would go back to work tomorrow if i could."

Universal credit doesn't 'pay' as much. MUCH less per week. Loads wouldn't qualify for Universal credit eg.... working partner's income would disqualify, savings over £x would disqualify, all other income taken into consideration.
The furlough scheme means lots that wouldn't qualify for Universal credit still get a % of income up to £2500

I agree with the furlough scheme since it helps some businesses stay afloat during a tricky period by picking up one of the largest costs ie staff wages. However, it cannot go on forever and gradually tweeks need to be made so only those who need to be furloughed eg hospitality industry will be able to continue. However, where businesses can return their employees to work safely with social distancing then they should do that.

Wohoho our taxes are going to go mad to pay for all this also after years of austerity 🙈🤦‍♀️

@blubellsarebells UC would me much cheaper than furlough.

I was thinking more about the cost of administration, surely paying businesses is cheaper than doing millions of individual claims, the extra money paid out in furlough must be offset somewhat by the cost of administering uc.
Personally i would probably be better off on uc, im not getting 80% because my tips make up 30% of my wages and are not included.
I would rather stay fuloughed and go back to the job I love.

Furlough must be cheaper than administering universal credit to millions of people all at once

Hmmmm, let me think £2500 pm or £92 a week - looks like universal credit costs less, especially with lots of people being too wealthy to get it.

Yes i suppose you're right.
Wishful thinking on my part i suppose, would rather be furkoughed than have to deal with universal credit.
Im a single parent, furlough pay 80% of 70% of my usual pay, so will probably be better off on uc anyway, seems I'd rather pay than have to deal with them.

Will they just extend from June to the end of August? No. Will this happen month by month Yes. Without a doubt. Many companies I deal with are anticipating this.

Furlough ends 31st August, majority of schools back in September.

Doesn't mean that the majority of companies will take this up - But the option will be there if required

I thought the Chancellor had said the furlough scheme will be kept under review and extended if necessary? It would only need to be extended by 2 months to take us to the end of August/beginning of September.
I do think there could be some tightening up though - so that companies like EasyJet and Tesco can't claim huge amounts of furlough money whilst still paying ridiculous dividends to shareholders.

If they pull furlough companies will lose their staff completely and be unable to function, those pushed on to universal will likely lose their homes and mental health problems and suicide will rocket. Those now on universal credit will struggle to get back into employment because their employer has failed, long term universal credit along with associated rent / council tax benefits / school meal allowance etc will cost more in the end than furlough

Here is the plan in Ireland, for information as to what could happen -
www.gov.ie/en/news/58bc8b-taoiseach-announces-roadmap-for-reopening-society-and-business-and-u/

The thing many mumsnetters do not realise is the aim of the furlough scheme is not “to be nice” but to try to save some devastating economic consequences. If we lost ever service job in this country, every restaurant, pub, events manager, non essential retail, everyone in leisure or tourism you might think “but I am alright jack they can stave silly people who didn’t make career choices based on a possible global pandemic” but every single one of those businesses will stop paying tax when they stop, all their employees will too!, and in £92 a week they might not be spending quite so much in the economy - think you safe in advertising? Marketing, well not really with depression level employment since no pint advertising to those who cannot afford to buy anything! Love our great nhs..clap for carers?..how will they be paid if we suddenly have the greatest level of unemployment since the 1930s? “I don’t want to pay higher taxes” umm maybe you don’t but you will because it would be the only way to pay for our public services with so many not working.

The chancellor knew as a Tory - depression level unemployment is a disaster and it is actually better to pay wages short term to ensure businesses do not disappear and can get up and running again quickly when allowed. If you don’t like paying for furlough fine but don’t think it will bring your taxes down since if you want a third of the country to be unemployed then you have to pay their taxes just to keep basic services going.

It’s pretty obvious that taxes are going to go up whatever happens. I expect it. But I suspect many of those businesses with furloughed staff will go down the pan anyway.

Qasd Spot on!

The company i work for won't go down the pan if furlough continues, 100% they wouldnt.
They might even keep paying us when furlough ends ( feeling optimistic tonight)
I do know that recruitment costs a fortune and to start all over again with that and running a business over 100+ sites probably would ruin us.
Furlough is not just to pay staff but to save the businesses also.

I wouldn't be surprised if some form of furlough does last at least that long, but in a limited way, for example only businesses that legally have to close (e.g. cinemas) would be able to claim it.

Well my partner has had 75% of his business taken away by the government. He runs a garage and has 4 staff, 3 on furlough as the government decided to extend mot’s for 6 months. They should never had done this for so long, they should of started with 3 months then reviewed. We effectively have lost so much business and this won’t return until many people start having mot’s done, starting September. How can we pay full wages if the staff come back in the next few weeks, when we don’t have the work? At the moment there is only enough work for 2.

I am not furloughed but I hope that it will be extended for those shielding if the shielding period doesnt end in june (I doubt it will).

I do think businesses should have had to meet stricter criteria to get the payment though, although the flipside is they would have simply let people go. There is no easy answer.

I think if it is to be extended it should be for businesses who have been ordered to close anyway.

Who do you think has to pay the termination payments of staff who get made redundant and the business doesn’t have enough to pay it? The government. They pay either way.

Moondust001 Excellent post! And no, I'm not unemployed!

@Medievalist

so that companies like EasyJet and Tesco can't claim huge amounts of furlough money

Can you point me to where it says Tesco are claiming Furlough? As I'm pretty sure they're not.

As for Easy Jet - why pick on them when other airlines & travel industry are doing the same?

@ChippingIn

www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/business/2020/may/02/business-leaders-extend-furlough-to-avoid-millions-of-job-losses

@ChippingIn - I think you're right. I think that, although the article in my link is about furlough, Tesco is benefitting from business rates relief rather that the job retention scheme. However, they are paying roughly the same amount out in dividends, so my point remains the same. If the furlough and other schemes are to be extended they shouldn't be exploited.

@alsohuman you realise don't you that comparing £92 and £2500 GROSS isn't the right comparison? Take away furlough and you're looking at the hundreds of thousands of people currently still employed being redundant. Long term. And UC also covers rent so pretending it is just a cost of £92pw is disingenuous.

God I hope not. I'm finding the thought of being furloughed until June bad enough, but until September would just push me over the edge.