Who are all these people that will suddenly back at work this week?....

[Derbygerbil]

.... and why weren’t they at work before?
.... and will there be enough work for them to do?

I thought most employers furloughed their staff if lockdown meant there was very little, if any, business, irrespective of whether they had to close.

This helped those businesses massively by effectively paying their salary bill. If the Government are saying they expect people to be back working at those businesses, it implies the furlough is being phased out, for those businesses at least. However, those businesses won’t magically be able to operate as they did before, or even close to it. Aren’t there going to be a load of firms who could survive over the lockdown, but will now go to the wall now they need to be back in business. I can see it might be necessary, but it’s going to be tough.

Many companies shut down then they didn’t need to, they had plenty of work,

So for example my wardrobe company, they reopen today, they aren’t going bust. I was going to order blinds, they shut down also, they will reopen, the demand is there.

Many many companies shut down that simply didn’t need to.

But yes, many companies who were struggling will potentially go to the wall. They need to reopen and get back at it hard, or their competitors will take what’s left of their business.

In this instance it’s the first man standing who wins.

1. My husband - a multi trade but predominantly a joiner
2. Because the company was shut as they work inside other people’s homes
3. Probably not

It will be tough, he has an apprentice too but has to keep the 2m gap. Also as it’s in other people’s houses there is no guarantee that they are clean and that the residents will keep away or not be infectious - the idea is that if the resident isn’t well the work will be cancelled, but realistically if you’ve been waiting months for insurance work to be carried out....

I know he needs to go back and we need to be getting back to normal I just hope he stays safe

Interesting- thanks.

Last night’s message was, reading between the lines: “we never intended for all these businesses to shut up shop... they’ve voluntarily exceeded our lockdown laws. No get back to work so we can actually operate the lockdown for businesses as we intended.”

My next door neighbour owns a large chain of plastics for the building industry shops. Drainpipes, facias, windows etc. He's opening tomorrow now.

As is my dog groomer.

A lot of businesses shut down when they didn’t need to because of public pressure. A lot of businesses furloughed staff when they shouldn’t have for the free tax payers money

I think at the start, employers do not want to be seen to be putting their employees at risk, and the government message was not clear enough that businesses that couldn't operate from home could continue as before, with respect to a 2m rule. To be fair, I imagine most businesses have had to sit down and think about how they can guarantee that and get the correct PPE available. I really hate people making out on here that mothers are happy to be at home making cakes with children instead of being at work. I get that for some there was a holiday-like feel to the first week,but I imagine most people's reticence about returning to work is firmly centred on a complete and utter lack of childcare.

Some business closed when they didnt need to.
Some businesses closed to get H&S place.

Some businesses closed because their customers closed, who are now starting to open up.

Some closed because their suppliers closed.

About twice as many workers were furloughed than originally expected, 20% not 10%, in some cases just to give businesses time to implement some changes , but that extra 10% probably does need to get back to work sooner rather than later

My dh is back at work today on his building site-this has been planned for a couple of weeks now. Have to say we are relieved as he is self employed and we have had no money coming in!

Basically, any business re-opening this week didn’t need Boris’ announcement to do so. It was more of a prod to get on a do the “right thing”.

Will there be extra mandatory H&S though? I’d hope this is spelt out today.

My workplace is reopening today. We're manufacturing for both online and high street retail stores. There's not enough work for all of us to go back, we're only receiving about 30% of our usual orders so there's just a skeleton staff going back. The rest of us are staying on furlough.

When furlough ends, if work hasn't picked up then a lot of us will be losing our jobs.

Hopefully the village chip shop!

Will there be extra mandatory H&S though? I’d hope this is spelt out today.

Apparently, yes. I didnt see the interview. I think it was Dominc Rabb. Piers Morgan has just been speaking about it.

There's also a reporting line to the HSE employees can use if they think their employer hasn't done anything or enough.

Not looked into it myself, but I am SLT in a company that started going back. Our MD warned everything had to be above board. Because of this whistle blowers line.

And employer not doing it would be stupid. Potential legal implications. And if you end up having to close again because covid has spread round your employees, huge business implications.

I think to an extent you are right OP. I haven't had my cleaner come since lockdown began. After reading threads on here I think I always could have done, but it didn't seem completely clear cut to begin with. I didn't want to put anyone at risk, and everyone I knew stopped having their cleaner so I erred on the side of caution. After the announcement last night I feel comfortable to have them back

I know that's only a tiny example, but I guess you can scale it up to include other workers.

My husband works for a car garage. They closed, but have now put safety measures in place and are reopening for service/repairs and parts only today.

@curlyendive - neither us or our cleaner were sure about what was permitted so we're on the side of caution too. She is now looking into childcare for her DC so she can get back to work. We've paid her throughout anyway.

@curlyendive - neither us or our cleaner were sure about what was permitted so were on the side of caution too. She is now looking into childcare for her DC so she can get back to work. We've paid her throughout anyway.

Our car garage stayed open..Thank goodness

what will people do who take public transport normally?

As long as the council don't reinstate parking charges I will drive to work when my work (clothes shop) reopens. If I have to pay to park I will get the bus as usual.
It's not far to walk but due to arthritis I can't walk it easily.

We closed. All staff furloughed. We didn't have any orders. We still don't.

To add, parking is normally limited to two hours on our high street. If I have to park further away I may as well not bother.