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Original poster

Friend said DH is abusing furlough

662 replies

amy198820 · 28/12/2020 17:09

DH been on furlough from 2 jobs since March (one full time job and one part time job he does one evening a week). He has been back to work on and off since the summer and is now on the flexi furlough scheme and both jobs have topped his pay to 100%. Since the tier 4 announcement he has been put back on furlough completely.

As tier 4 is looking like it will continue through Jan/Feb, and so unlikely he will be going back anytime soon DH had applied for another job to keep him busy rather than sit at home. DH found out before Christmas he has got the job and he has made this new employer aware that this job will just be a fill in whilst he is on furlough and the employer has accepted this and are happy to take him on. (its a friend of a friend type thing)

Spoke with my friend and earlier and told her about DH's new temporary position explaining that its better than him sitting at home all day /gives him something to do until all this passes etc. My friend took umbrage with this and said that we are abusing the system and that this isnt what the scheme was designed for. I didn't really know what to say and so said sorry she was offended and would speak to her later on.

For background before anyone says anything, I was not being insensitive, my friend has not suffered financially due to COVID as she has been working from home continuously throughout.

I want to call my friend back soon as to not let the bad feeling grow. How would you suggest I approach this? I do not think we are doing anything wrong, just trying to get through this pandemic and doing the best for our family as would anyone else.

OP posts:
BBCONEANDTWO · 28/12/2020 21:31

He'll have to pay extra tax probably but so long as it's legal why not?

PlanDeRaccordement · 28/12/2020 21:32

Blame the government then, not the man on the street looking out for his family.This government don't care about you or morals, it's legally allowed.
So I suppose we should blame the government for every cheating husband out there? After all adultery is legal so can’t blame the poor menz.

Anyoldname12 · 28/12/2020 21:32

There is absolutely no comparison between a SAHP getting one job and a man who is taking in three incomes from two furloughs at 100% and a third job.
There are people on this thread literally saying her DP is taking jobs away from people that NEED them. @Shmithecat2 was absolutely right in the comparison.

Oblomov20 · 28/12/2020 21:32

Wow. What an interesting thread.

I too struggle with this whole concept. I have many employees who I do the payroll for whom have done the same.

The system doesn't sit comfortably with me.

PlanDeRaccordement · 28/12/2020 21:33

@BBCONEANDTWO

He'll have to pay extra tax probably but so long as it's legal why not?
If you don’t earn the money in the first place because it’s taxpayer funded furlough money, then it’s not really tax is it? It’s just a benefit that gives you what your net income would have been if you’d actually worked.
anyoldname12 · 28/12/2020 21:34

@PlanDeRaccordement

Blame the government then, not the man on the street looking out for his family.This government don't care about you or morals, it's legally allowed. So I suppose we should blame the government for every cheating husband out there? After all adultery is legal so can’t blame the poor menz.
You’re calling out @Shmithecat2 for making stupid comparisons then come out with this shite... Hmm
PlanDeRaccordement · 28/12/2020 21:36

@Anyoldname12

There is absolutely no comparison between a SAHP getting one job and a man who is taking in three incomes from two furloughs at 100% and a third job. There are people on this thread literally saying her DP is taking jobs away from people that NEED them. *@Shmithecat2* was absolutely right in the comparison.
Yes her DH is taking away jobs from unemployed people who need them. Who’s to say a SAHP doesn’t need a job? No ones said that. But you have to admit someone getting paid for two furloughed jobs and working a third is being paid for more “hours” than could be possibly worked by one person. A SAHP getting one job is not at all comparable to someone pulling down furlough money for 160hrs per week and then working another 40hrs per week. Who works three full time jobs? No one.
LaceyBetty · 28/12/2020 21:36

@Anyoldname12

Mad that people get so up in arms about the “morality” and “ethics” of a bloke claiming a few grand in furlough but don’t bat an eye at the billions in unpaid taxes by massive companies, and the government spinning away millions on contracts to their mates.

Probably have the “benefit claimers are milking the system and bleeding is dry” mentality too.

Why do you think we're not batting an eyelid at this too? It's all messed up.
PlanDeRaccordement · 28/12/2020 21:37

@Anyoldname12
Whatever. If you can’t understand that legal doesn’t equal moral then I can’t help you.

Holox · 28/12/2020 21:37

I don't see the issue. All those who have taken offence, I'd love to know who you think have been, for example, filling the extra roles needed in supermarkets over the last few months? If everybody had sat on their arse at home thinking well I'm alright doing nothing as I'm getting paid through furlough, we'd probably have been in a bit of a mess as a country.

grapewine · 28/12/2020 21:37

It's legal but I understand your friend's point of view tbh.

BooBahBoo · 28/12/2020 21:41

I think people have covered it. What a selfish sod.

BananaHammock23 · 28/12/2020 21:42

I think it's a sore subject for people who are suffering financially because of covid (even if your friend isn't).

Imo your DH's third job should've gone to someone who has no income/has lost their job because of covid. But I'm not the employer 🤷🏻‍♀️

Oblomov20 · 28/12/2020 21:43

Why stop at 3? Carry on getting as many jobs as you can. Be furloughed on 6, 8, 10 jobs. Hmm

Until the Government wakes up and closes this loophole in the furlough scheme, this abuse will continue.

Shmithecat2 · 28/12/2020 21:45

@PlanDeRaccordement
Dont be ridiculous. There is absolutely no comparison between a SAHP getting one job and a man who is taking in three incomes from two furloughs at 100% and a third job.

My point was, some people are objecting to the DH taking a job that someone else needs, when he doesn't need one. I don't need one either. So, by that logic, there is absolutely a comparison.

Muchtoomuchtodo · 28/12/2020 21:47

@Holox

I don't see the issue. All those who have taken offence, I'd love to know who you think have been, for example, filling the extra roles needed in supermarkets over the last few months? If everybody had sat on their arse at home thinking well I'm alright doing nothing as I'm getting paid through furlough, we'd probably have been in a bit of a mess as a country.
My DH has been one of the extras working in a supermarket. He’s been by far the main earner in this house since we had dc and he was made redundant out of the blue in the summer. Getting those part time hours doing supermarket deliveries has made the difference between being able to pay our mortgage and not. Meanwhile I’m also a key worker who has worked throughout for the same wages as I’ve earned for the past 8 years. No furlough here, no other options (I enquired about extra hours), just a bit of luck that some other selfish bastard didn’t decide that they fancied a THIRD job while being paid in full for their other 2.
Shaniac · 28/12/2020 21:47

Why stop at 3? Carry on getting as many jobs as you can. Be furloughed on 6, 8, 10 jobs

Im pretty sure you can only be furloughed on 2 jobs to a set amount of money for each, like mine. So any additional jobs are at your own risk if they go under.

KatherineJaneway · 28/12/2020 21:50

yes, but as on furlough there is a possibility that he will be made redundant, therefore we are making hay whilst the sun shines (or whatever the phrase is)

Possibility but not a certainty. So he is taking a job that could be taken by someone who has no income at all.

nettie434 · 28/12/2020 21:52

It's quite clear that what your DH is doing is perfectly legal Amy192820 so I can't see why your friend thinks he is 'abusing furlough'.

If other people don't like it then they should write to Rishi Sunak. Working for another employer is a legitimate way for people to increase their options of finding alternative employment in case they are made redundant. Some people on furlough are not well paid in the first place. Of course there will be some people who will end up benefiting but that is a minority. I prefer the furlough system to the situation faced by those poor people in the US who waited desperately for Donald Trump to deign to take time off from playing golf to sign the Covid aid bill.

twinklychristmaslights · 28/12/2020 21:53

"We have both been tax payers for 15+ years, so have put in a lot more than taken out"

Oh dear, this just crystallises your sense of entitlement.

I'm not sure why you posted to be honest as you're looking for justification that others are finding - IMO justifiably - difficult to provide.

Legal? Yes I think so. Immoral? Yes.

Shmithecat2 · 28/12/2020 21:57

@PlanDeRaccordement

A SAHP getting one job is not at all comparable to someone pulling down furlough money for 160hrs per week and then working another 40hrs per week. Who works three full time jobs? No one.

True, but if you took the trouble to rtft, NO ONE is doing that. The OP stated:

not 3 full time incomes.
1 x full time (normal job) - furlough
1 x part time evening job (8 hr contract p/w) - furlough
and now an extra job that will be 3 or 4 days a week - temporary and flexible until reinstated in full time job

ancientgran · 28/12/2020 22:00

Not illegal but the schemes were badly setup. I think the govt needs to do some thinking about how to claim back some of this money. I think from the start people on furlough should have had to make a commitment to doing some voluntary work to help, obviously you'd need exceptions if childcare wasn't available but otherwise there were lots of opportunities, delivering shopping or prescriptions for a start.

Gingerbreadfeeling · 28/12/2020 22:01

I genuinely think people on here are bonkers. You don't ask to be furloughed, you don't apply for it, you don't play the system, you just get paid furlough money in place of your salary. You can't give it back and it comes with a massive chunk of stress and uncertainty. You can be brought in off furlough at any time. Under those circumstances, an acquaintance offers you some work, not a formal job, just temporary- and you are somehow immoral for taking it?

ancientgran · 28/12/2020 22:03

So he is taking a job that could be taken by someone who has no income at all. Exactly. He is claiming 80% for 2 jobs which all of us tax payers are funding and he is doing another job. I've heard several people bragging about how much money they have made from covid while others go without.

Doesn't affect me, I'm a pensioner, but I feel for the people who lost their jobs and are struggling.

Posidonas · 28/12/2020 22:03

@Shaniac

Why stop at 3? Carry on getting as many jobs as you can. Be furloughed on 6, 8, 10 jobs

Im pretty sure you can only be furloughed on 2 jobs to a set amount of money for each, like mine. So any additional jobs are at your own risk if they go under.

Utter rubbish. You can be furloughed under as many jobs that you worked in between 20 March-30 October up to the maximum of £2.5 k per job per month. Why bother commenting when you know nothing about it?