Furlough extended until April

[Coldwinterahead1]

So this means the Government expect it to go on for another 4 months at least ?😢 oh god please tell me I'm wrong.

I have been on and off furlough since March. And now getting made redundant and they refuse to furlough us any longer. They have basically used covid as a restructure opportunity and throwing some of us out of the door. The fact our jobs will be there once this is over is just so wrong, they have more or less admitted than in a years time they will need more staff again just makes us all sick that they can toss away loyal staff without maximising the furlough.

@RafaIsTheKingOfClay but the end date that they've extended from was the end of March anyway - they had a while to play with so I just think that right now is very odd timing.

Personally I see it as a sticking plaster.
Even if things return to normal in April, business will still be affected and there are certainly more redundancies to come sadly.

@Miamarshmallows

Personally I see it as a sticking plaster. Even if things return to normal in April, business will still be affected and there are certainly more redundancies to come sadly.

Definitely for some companies, not so much for others. The pub my husband runs turns a big profit, when it reopened after lockdown they were profitable even with restrictions. They have been made to close under tier 3 - the lack of takings is nothing to do with the viability of the business.

Bur Boris said back to normal by Easter and we can always rely on Boris.

Boris also said he’d lie down in front of bulldozers to stop a 3rd runway at Heathrow - crossing my fingers that he keeps that promise

@Mousehole10

Interesting they have only extended it for one month though. It fits nicely into their plan of getting back to normal around Easter time. Lets hope it stays that way!

Good Friday is April 2nd. Boris said we'd be back to normal at Easter.

I don't see furlough as a bad thing, what's the alternative?

@Oblomov20 I can assure you it's not been much fun trying to feed a family of 6 on 80% pay when it was tight on 100% pay. We'd love furlough to end and be able to return to work.

I've not been furloughed by the way.

DH has suggested that it ties up with the date of the March budget and statutory redundancy notice. Therefore, they will release the budget, businesses will know if they can survive or not and use the final month of furlough for the statutory redundancy period.

[quote KindnessCrusader]@Oblomov20 I can assure you it's not been much fun trying to feed a family of 6 on 80% pay when it was tight on 100% pay. We'd love furlough to end and be able to return to work. [/quote]
Absolutely, I’ve been on 80% the whole time & DH’s pub has been closed as much as it’s been open.
We’re lucky that we had a bit to fall back on but that’s not the case for most people.
My mental health is shot to shit, being at home for months has made me nervous about going out at all & it’s bloody lonely being at home on your own.
Furlough has been a god send but I’d much rather have been at work.

@nancy75 I'm so sorry to hear that. Hoping next year will be better for everyone!

@ KindnessCrusader, thank you. Compared to other people I’ve got nothing to moan about, we’re all healthy & we’ve both still got jobs. I know it’s been so much worse for some.

This is an utter disaster.
Politicians haven’t a clue, I guess they can keep voting themselves pay rises while destroying every small business in the country.
In the end only Amazon will remain. Is this what they want?

Furlough has to be paid back is the answer to the person who asked why furlough was bad.
Not saying it shouldn't be available as it's nobody's fault they are on it. But let's not pretend that it's a perfect solution and that everything will slowly fall back to how it was for employees and employers in April.

@Babbas

Our firm has not been affected by covid, we are as busy as ever. But with half the staff on furlough its made working life unbearable for those who have worked without a break all year. Stop this madness it's insane. Our bosses recently emailed people about returning to work and all bar 1 replied saying that they wouldn't want the option of coming back to work to swap with those of us who have worked through. I am resentful, tired and fed up. My firm furloughed staff because they could, not because they needed to.

This kind of behaviour by companies is outrageous and should be reported.

@MarcelineMissouri the actual system is crap for highlighting fraudulent claims - if you had 20 employees on the February RTI, paid off 5 in March & took on 3 in April you can claim for the 3 new starts even though they aren't actually eligible as the system only flags up if you have too many employees not that your claiming or the wrong employees - yeah you might get caught out at a later date if they decide to pull your claims for a compliance check but you might not.

@Miamarshmallows what alternative system would you use.

For me it was also very much to encourage people to stay at home to stop the spread of the virus.

Now it seems will be extended by another three months at least up to the end of July 2021.
It is a punishment for the hard working people...
Inflection rate will be massive increased without government intervening.