Furloughed employee who also has self-employment - unpaid leave only

kiffmoore1 · 26 March 2020 at 2:55PM

Hi all,
I searched for information but coudnn't find anything, would be grateful of any thoughts, thanks in advance
My wife has 2 roles, she is an employee and has been furloughed as we have young children at home and work has reduced which is understandable. She also works part-time
for another company on a self-employed basis. Her PAYE employers who know about this second role have now said that she has to take unpaid leave as she can't use the furlough scheme if she has a second job that is self-employed. The work is never done at the same time so it seems a little unfair that she is being penalised for having a second self-employed role.

neilmcl · 26 March 2020 at 3:01PM

Their choice I'm afraid.

Jeremy535897 · 26 March 2020 at 4:30PM

A question was raised in the House by Stephen Doughty to Matt Hancock about this situation, and he said he thought it was not what furlough was for, but he would ask the Treasury. Reading the actual spoken words, I think Matt Hancock misunderstood the question, but unfortunately some cautious employers have taken this as gospel. As Neilmcl says, you can't force an employer to put you into a furlough scheme.