Am I eligible for furloughing?

katea73

I decided myself to go for 3 months isolation. I am well myself, but my husband is kidney transplant recipient,  he is on immunosuppressant meds and must stay in isolation for 3 months.  He works from home. He is the reason I went for isolation as well, to protect him. I can't work from home, I work in the nursing home as activities provider. Am I eligible to be furloughed by my company? 

[Deleted User]

You should be as clearly you can't risk getting infected. You need to make sure your employer understands that and furloughs you. Don't take no for an answer and if necessary you can use the NHS 111 service to get an email confirming that you can't go to work at the moment.

neilmcl

It's purely down to your employer whether you'll be furloughed or not. They may just decide to get you to go on SSP.

calcotti

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-to-employers-and-businesses-about-covid-19/covid-19-guidance-for-employees
“If your employer cannot cover staff costs due to COVID-19, they may be able to access support to continue paying part of your wage, to avoid redundancies.”

This is not a general business support scheme. Unfortunately if you need to protect your health by being away from work your employer has no obligation to pay you.
You can look at Universal Credit https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/benefits/universal-credit/

See also https://www.acas.org.uk/coronavirus

sharpe106

[DELETED USER] said:

You should be as clearly you can't risk getting infected. You need to make sure your employer understands that and furloughs you. Don't take no for an answer and if necessary you can use the NHS 111 service to get an email confirming that you can't go to work at the moment.

The furlough is meant to protect jobs that would be lost due to companies being unable to pay staff not for people to have a break or if they are off ill. The OP would have to see what their contract says but most likely they would only be able to apply for SSP.