Enterprise rent-a-car refused furlough

Student23411

As part of my university degree, I am required to complete a year working in the industry, referred to as a placement.
I have been working at Enterprise Rent-A-Car since July 2019 as an intern on a temporary salaried 12-month contract.
Yesterday (27 March 2020) the decision was taken to let go of all interns working for Enterprise Rent-A-Car with immediate effect. They are offering to pay a standard contract notice period of one week and any holidays in arrear. When I asked to be furloughed, they stated after having advice from their legal team the government would not provide the 80% furlough amount as I am on a temporary contract. 
Where do I stand with this? Am I entitled to furlough, if so, how do I approach this as the company is refusing to furlough at the moment.

gary83

Furlough is entirely at the companies discretion, nobody can demand to be placed on furlough.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/check-if-you-could-be-covered-by-the-coronavirus-job-retention-scheme

Hermann

Its all at the employers discretion but here are the qualifying criteria...

Furloughed employees must have been on your PAYE payroll on 28 February 2020, and can be on any type of contract, including:

• full-time employees
• part-time employees
• employees on agency contracts
• employees on flexible or zero-hour contracts

The scheme also covers employees who were made redundant since 28 February 2020, if they are rehired by their employer.

To be eligible for the subsidy, when on furlough, an employee can not undertake work for or on behalf of the organisation. This includes providing services or generating revenue. While on furlough, the employee’s wage will be subject to usual income tax and other deductions.

This scheme is only for employees on agency contracts who are not working.

If an employee is working, but on reduced hours, or for reduced pay, they will not be eligible for this scheme and you will have to continue paying the employee through your payroll and pay their salary subject to the terms of the employment contract you agreed.

Employers should discuss with their staff and make any changes to the employment contract by agreement. When employers are making decisions in relation to the process, including deciding who to offer furlough to, equality and discrimination laws will apply in the usual way.

To be eligible for the subsidy employers should write to their employee confirming that they have been furloughed and keep a record of this communication.

Employees hired after 28 February 2020 cannot be furloughed or claimed for in accordance with this scheme.

You do not need to place all your employees on furlough. However, those employees who you do place on furlough cannot undertake work for you.