Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Covid

Mumsnet doesn't verify the qualifications of users. If you have medical concerns, please consult a healthcare professional.

Govt furlough extended til October

419 replies

Joan0fSarc · 12/05/2020 12:38

Thank goodness.

OP posts:
amber763 · 12/05/2020 16:57

Some awful human beings on this thread and a massive lack of empathy.

Just this.

amber763 · 12/05/2020 17:00

@SeperatedSwans do you want people to be sat around being miserable? The government didnt introduce the furlough scheme to make people miserable - it introduced it to protect jobs and prevent mass unemployment.

What the hell is a covid complaint workplace??

vanillandhoney · 12/05/2020 17:01

Some awful human beings on this thread and a massive lack of empathy.

Exactly. Talk about taking your anger out on the wrong people! The attitude on here towards those who have been furloughed THROUGH NO FAULT OF THEIR OWN is awful.

It's horrible.

vanillandhoney · 12/05/2020 17:03

I think some people on here would only be happy if the furloughed were sat in dark rooms, eating bread and water, wearing hair shirts and sobbing.

Because how dare they smile and make the most out of a shit situation, right?

SeperatedSwans · 12/05/2020 17:03

Amber I ment compliant. Typo, apologies.

No that's what everyone is saying, everyone who is furloughed is miserable, hating life, worst thing that could happened to them 🤷🏻‍♀️

onemorepringle · 12/05/2020 17:03

Yes, we must all self-flagellate and eat gruel because won’t someone think of the taxpayer

imsooverthisdrama · 12/05/2020 17:06

So if every furloughed worker can't wait to go back to work, they are all so miserable, every single one of the ready to go back tomorrow, why such the uproar on lifting the lockdown and being told to go back to work if you can in a covid complaint workplace because the R rate is below 1 .
I'm not aware of any uproar, apart from schools but that's another thread.
Your right you can't complain about lifting the lockdown but want to go back to work .
When I can go back to work I will even if it's tomorrow. That's the point the government has told people to go back to work if they can . I've just had a message that my garage is reopening next week .
Other industries can't open till July at earliest so will be furloughed until then at the earliest.
Hopefully what will happen is they will go back then even if it's part time and October is worst case scenario and will hopefully just be a small percentage.

timewarp6 · 12/05/2020 17:06

There is no reason to be resentful of the furloughed. I have been furloughed and hate it - I'm down on money, unsure if I will have a job to go back to and bored stiff. I love my job so that makes it all even worse. But I'm glad the govt is at least offering some support, my industry is likely to be closed for a while and the job market will be ultra competitive too.

If you haven't been furloughed, be grateful your job sees you and your job as important enough to keep paying you rather than furloughing you for months. It means your safer than the majority of us.

Mintypylonsfryingsurplus · 12/05/2020 17:07

The UK government spent £500 Billion bailing out the banks in 2008
We not nearly up to that amount yet probably a quarter to a third.
If they can bail out greedy grabbing banks, I am sure we are entitled too.

Liking80 · 12/05/2020 17:07

I am sure we are all watching money at the moment. As a Furloughed worker I still have the odd treat - a bottle of wine or takeaway once a week. I am fortunate that I can still afford us but it is this discretionary spending that will help the recovery.

Piper1879 · 12/05/2020 17:08

I'm not in uproar about lifting the lockdown , I want to go back to work , I also want it to be safe ! I certainly didn't request furlough , it was either that or redundancy which is still a probability

Rainbow12e · 12/05/2020 17:08

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Puzzledandpissedoff · 12/05/2020 17:08

So if every furloughed worker can't wait to go back to work ... why such the uproar on lifting the lockdown and being told to go back to work if you can in a covid complaint workplace because the R rate is below 1

A reasonable question ...

If a conservative Government feels it is necessary to bankroll 80% of millions of people's wages, then the alternative must be absolute economic and social devastation

You'd think so wouldn't you? But in the absence of any common sense of their own, they may have just placed blind trust in the scientists - you know, the ones who assured us we'd have 200,000 deaths even with lockdown, that Sweden's approach would kill 20,000, that Austria would suffer an instant return of the virus when they eased up and much more

RedToothBrush · 12/05/2020 17:09

The problem with a sliding scale by month is how it affects small businesses differently to large businesses and is dependent on what sector you are in.

For example you are a very small restaurant or pub with no outdoor space and no real way of maintaining social distancing and maintaining enough business to be open. The opener has little capital to fall back on and there are still outgoings eating up what reserves of cash the business has. It has no real way of generating an income until all restrictions are lifted.

Contrast with the likes of Virgin Atlantic whose owner most definitely has the money to pay to furlough staff but doesn't wish to.

And a well managed business that values its staff and can partly open in July and therefore can start generating income so may be able to support the staff that can't currently return to work.

The first may have no choice but lay off staff even though they don't want to. The second example might just be tossers to whom money is more important than their moral responsibilities to their staff.

Therefore a tapering of furlough in sectors which are hamstrung for the longest is particularly difficult and may not be enough to mitigate redundancies at all for very different reasons.

I hope that smaller businesses are generally supported better than larger multi nationals that are registered in tax havens. So the government will provide different levels of support based on a) your size b) your sector and c) you domestic tax status to encourage businesses to take their responsibility to staff better in the long term and to help those firms most at risk of not being able to survive otherwise.

Pomegranatepompom · 12/05/2020 17:10

@imsooverthisdrama not really - I’m probably just a bit over all this as well !

Comefromaway · 12/05/2020 17:11

So if every furloughed worker can't wait to go back to work, they are all so miserable, every single one of the ready to go back tomorrow, why such the uproar on lifting the lockdown and being told to go back to work if you can in a covid complaint workplace because the R rate is below 1

No workplace can be made truly Covid compliant.

I’m not furloughed, I’m working from home. I’m running payroll & doing all the calculations related to furlough whilst trying to use slow internet and logging into work servers remotely. Chasing money and sending invoices to businesses that are either closed or working from home.

Am I jealous of those who are furloughed? No way, I’m just grateful that furlough means we will probably all have jobs to come back to.

PicsInRed · 12/05/2020 17:11

If you haven't been furloughed, be grateful your job sees you and your job as important enough to keep paying you rather than furloughing you for months. It means your safer than the majority of us

No, I'm quite sure we're all fucked too. Really fucked.

SeperatedSwans · 12/05/2020 17:16

No onemoreprinlgle what you should be doing is staying indoors for essential trips only en mass.

But that isn't what the majority of furloughed are doing, especially now in England with increased freedom and a longer break from work. They will be out sunbathing, the majority will now be driving to rural places to excersise and have picnics and days out with family playing sports in parks every single sunny day. Resulting in more a and e admissions for twisted ankles, elbows and other injuries. The majority will go angling and golfing to which they will need to drive to do so. Increased road traffic equals increased RTA's putting police and fire services under pressure.

The joke is the majority of the furloughed will be the ones pushing the second peak, and essential workers who are doing nothing but working in the community/hospitals and care homes and going home knackered or WFH for 40hours or more a week will see the increased pressures as a result.

Pomegranatepompom · 12/05/2020 17:19

@PicsInRed 😢 I’m still trying to be a bit positive.

imsooverthisdrama · 12/05/2020 17:28

God now it's our fault the cv is spreading now . Hmm
Yes I may have sunbathe on the occasion I've not much else to do , in my garden though not out . I haven't been anyway apart from the supermarket like everyone else . It really is miserable some days you have nothing to take your mind off cv and the job worry . I don't expect anyone to feel sorry for me and other furloughed workers but a bit of empathy wouldn't go amiss . I sympathise for workers going out worrying about catching cv and in some cases the extra work load but that's not the furloughed workers fault is it .

RedToothBrush · 12/05/2020 17:30

If you are not furloughed you have much more job security than anyone who is.

You are significantly less fucked than many of those who are currently furloughed and will be looking for work in the near future.

It might be stressful, you might be on less money, you might be going nuts trying to juggle everything, but I would not like to be looking for work in the coming months or be in a sector which is forced to be closed longer term.

NiteFlights · 12/05/2020 17:30

There are some very simplistic thinkers and a whole lot of projection on this thread.

I am currently furloughed, from a job I enjoy very much. May I point out:

  1. It’s not my fault I can’t work;
  2. It’s not my employer’s fault we are closed;
  3. It’s not much fun knowing there is nothing I can do to aid my employer’s ongoing recovery/success;
  4. Furlough payments (which I’m immensely grateful for) enable me to remain economically active, paying tax, etc;
  5. Furlough payments also relieve some of the anxiety around not being able to work, benefit my mental health, planning abilities etc;
  6. ‘The economy’ isn’t some ethereal concept - it’s your bank account and mine, mortgages and bills being paid, money circulating, tax being paid, plans to spend money in the future, etc.

PP had it right when they said that if a Conservative government - this Conservative government - have put this scheme into place then we don’t even want to think about how unbelievably fucked we’d all be without it. And unless you have multiple millions, that includes you.

MrsG010814 · 12/05/2020 17:33

@SeperatedSwans so should these scrounging furloughers be locked in their homes and not take their children out to follow the rules set out by the government? Why shouldn't I be able to go out following the rules with my children because I've been furloughed through no choice of my own? Be angry at the government and greedy employers not the individuals furloughed as they have no choice and are not in the majority of cases able to work elsewhere.

Worriedmum8555 · 12/05/2020 17:34

Genuinely curious what all the people saying 'it's career suicide' to request furlough are doing with their children? My husband works in construction so was furloughed and when given the option to go back last week he asked for an extension as he was looking after our 5 and 1 year old as I have worked full time throughout. There is no way I can work to the level my company is expecting AND watch my very active toddler so DH will request furlough again until end of May when hopefully we will be able to be in a bubble with my (young and healthy) parents and they can help with some childcare. Lots of people on or asking for furlough are surely in similar positions not just trying to get out of work. DH admits it would be much easier to go back!

ginsparkles · 12/05/2020 17:35

@separatedswans I'm furloughed, I am not in uproar, I'd like to go back to work, but as my shop has been told to shut and won't be reopening until at least 1st June, I have no choice.

I'm not off out and about, I have no intention of driving miles to get exercise, of all these rules I happen to think that's pretty bonkers! I stay at home, have my husband who is working collect our shopping on click and collect on his way home.

I think you may be seeing SOME furloughed people doing those things, but let's not blanket all furloughed staff in the same way. There are some people, working from home, working out of the home, furloughed etc making not safe choices. I don't think it's fair to make everything the fault of us that have been forced not to work.