On furlough. Employer being paid @100% by client 4 my salary. Report to HMRC or not?

[Strawberrypolkadots]

My employer put me on furlough in mid March.
I have been told I am on furlough till September and it is likely to be extended till end of furlough period.

During this time the Client who pays for the account/services is paying a 7 fig sum for me to be sat on furlough.

In summary the client is paying them my salary which they are keeping, placing me on furlough Plus small top up to £40k and pocketing my large salary.

At the same time we are prohibited from telling anyone we are on furlough and the owner currently has my email account and goes through the emails.

When furlough first started The boss expected me to review/forward emails, keep up to date on projects and login daily. I refused as he was in effect expecting me to work.

At the end of the first month of furlough he even asked me to do accounts to enable them to bill clients. I refused.

I’m not being deliberately awkward but the UK plc is paying me I am following their no work rule.

Employer is still being paid by client for me at 100% every month.

Employer is pushing for weekly quiz but at this stage I’ve totally lost interest after several quiz sessions which are not actually very sociable. Other people are also dropping off.

The workload is still there and whilst I’m sat on furlough it is building up.

I’ve gone for another job on contract as I’m loosing the will and I’m now expecting an offer soon.

What do you think ??

Go for it. He has no morals and being greedy. He deserves to realise you can't always get away with poor behaviour.

If you aren't working (ie you are complying with the furlough requirements) then what exactly would you be reporting them for?
Their income streams are irrelevant, what is relevant is whether you are correctly furloughed and they are entitled to claim.
Obviously asking you to effectively work at the beginning wasn't compliant, but you didn't do that.

So you're usually on a 7 figure salary which a client pays but to your employer? So, actually the client pays for a service which can be provided by anybody.
I think financial arrangements between your employer and their client are irrelevant but I can see how annoying it must be.
You were right to refuse to do any work, your employer is right to have access to your work emails.

Why is your employer hiding the fact that you are on furlough?
If you have work to do you should be back at work.
Definitely report
BUT
Your employer is only getting a small part of your salary covered by the Furlough is capped at £2500 a month

The client pays a monthly retainer for the team e.g. me. So what I am saying is they they are receiving the money for me pocketing it and not paying me. Client thinks they are receiving a service but there not because I’m on furlough. Other people on the team are junior staff not qualified or competent to do my job hence the workload building up

what I am saying is they they are receiving the money for me pocketing it and not paying me

That's not what's happening.

If the client doesn't receive the service then they will take that up with your employer. From the information you've put here it's nothing to do with you.

Surely this contravenes the furlough rules. Furlough is only funded by the government if the pandemic means the work has dried up. If your employer’s client is still paying for the service then how can they argue there is no work?

The client has a complaint against your employer if they are not getting the service they are paying for. That’s between them.

In terms of furlough, your employer can only claim if you have been told not to work because of the impact of COVID.

If their income is unaffected then there is no need to furlough you, therefore doing so is fraudulent. They haven’t furloughed you because there is no work because of COVID-19, they’ve furloughed you because there’s some cash available.

Your employer can furlough you for any reason, provided that you agree.

You cannot work for your employer whilst your are furloughed

Your employer's revenue streams are not of interest to HMRC in this situation.

If I was your employer I'd be worried about losing a client who was receiving an inferior service, not about HMRC.

There's nothing to report to HMRC here.

The client pays a monthly retainer for the team e.g. me. So what I am saying is they they are receiving the money for me pocketing it and not paying me

From what you have described this is nothing to do with HMRC. The client has agreed a fee for the service. If they are not getting the service they should take it up with the supplier (your employer).

Your employer's revenue streams are not of interest to HMRC in this situation
No
the Furlough declaration specifies that the income has to have been "impacted"
in this case the employer clearly lied
so a call to HMRC is warranted

No
the Furlough declaration specifies that the income has to have been "impacted"
in this case the employer clearly lied
so a call to HMRC is warranted

Nonsense! Because one client is continuing to pay their retainer does not mean that the company's overall income has not been impacted. The client may be contractually obliged to continue to pay, and may not require the service. Maybe another employee is delivering the service. We don't know that.

What I do know is that HMRC will have no interest in an employee on furlough and a company continuing to bill a client. The client has not clearly lied. The OP does not understand how business works.

”Your employer can furlough you for any reason, provided that you agree.”

I’m assuming you haven’t read the Treasury Direction setting out the rules of the scheme then? In fact there are very limited reasons an employer is allowed to furlough someone and claim through the scheme. The employee must have been instructed to stop work because of Coronavirus. Lack of work, shielding or childcare issues are all acceptable. Most importantly, any furlough claim must sit within the overall purpose of the scheme, which is to continue employment. If the OP’s work is still there and is still fully funded, there is no justification for furloughing her. If the employer is impacted by Coronavirus in other areas of the business, those staff should have been furloughed.

Unfortunately there are many employers who are seeing this as a revenue-enhancing opportunity and are furloughing staff when work is still there and income either not affected or minimally affected, and jobs are not in fact at risk at all. Some of these employers are also requiring ‘furloughed’ employees to keep working.

This whole thing is a ticking time bomb and employers who think defrauding HMRC is sensible are going to get a rude awakening- in fact some already are.

Just to clarify the client paying for everyone on my team is doing extremely well in the COVID -19 situation. The work is ongoing as per normal. Other clients are also paying and the work is ongoing as normal too. I understand how a business runs and the fixed costs they have are the same as normal. I think it’s unethical to have client paying 7 fig sum to company and for the account to be running as normal and for staff to be put on furlough.

The client is not paying for everyone on your team. They are paying for a service and that payment is used for your salaries. The client is not your employer.

I hate to disagree with you @Flowery but there could be perfectly legitimate reasons that the OP is furloughed. Not only have I read every single update from HMRC on the Job Retention Scheme, I've run webinars and written articles on the topic. The furlough scheme is not for individuals; it is to support businesses during what was a sudden and unavoidable business disaster. The aim is to protect overall employment, not individuals.

We don't have sufficient information to make a call on this one.

It's very unlikely the business, as a whole, has not been impacted by Covid 19 so one client continuing to pay does not mean the business does not qualify for the JRS. It is up to the employer to decide who to furlough (with agreement). The OP works for the business not the client. Perhaps the work has been allocated elsewhere. Perhaps the client has continued to pay but has no need of the service (ie we still had to pay our office rent even though our office is not being used). Perhaps the employer has a rock solid contract that doesn't release the client from paying.

HMRC will be investigating this in two ways. They will be looking at companies who claimed furlough when there has been minimal impact on revenue, and they are looking for employees to whistleblow on their employers. The OP can certainly do this here www.tax.service.gov.uk/shortforms/form/TEH_IRF?_ga=2.46677732.2118107720.1595233637-433054355.1583743607. but I'm pretty sure they won't be interested.

If you don’t like the way your employer has behaved, then it’s probably best to seek another job, yes.

It might strike you as unethical, but I’m not sure it’s illegal.

I’d be more concerned that the client hasn’t been told about your furlough on the basis of them getting a poor service and deciding to take their business elsewhere, eventually leaving me at risk of unemployment. If you don’t have confidence in how the business is run then if you can get different employment which you feel is more secure, that’s a valid choice. Job market is pretty tricky right now though so it’s a case of your own
risk tolerance.

”We don't have sufficient information to make a call on this one.”

You are right. OP has much more context about her employer than we do.

I would be extremely cautious about putting staff on furlough where the funding for their role is still there, and the work is still there regardless of whether the business as a whole has been impacted.

I would list all the reading writing and webinars I’ve done as well, but it’s not a competition.