My daughter sacked so they don't have to Furlough

WhatKatyDidNext

My daughter works for a small, private nursery school near Warrington and started work there at the beginning of October 2019. She had a 6 month probation period but last Friday, 27 March, they gave her an end-of-probation interview (which she was only informed about on the Tuesday) and they said her work wasn't good enough and she had to leave. She was devastated, nothing but positive feedback had been given to her during her probation period which included a session watching her work . She has a degree in Early Years Studies, so very dedicated to her chosen profession. She left the premises in tears. Later she was told by other staff (privately) that the nursery was closing anyway and they had to get rid of staff, so she was last in and had to go. This appears to be an extremely cruel way to behave during a pandemic. She is only on minimum wage but this allowed her to rent her flat with her fiancee. Surely there is some directive for employers not to do this during this pandemic. I've asked her to write to the owner of the business and ask to be put back on the payroll so she can receive the furlough funds. What do you all think?

Undervalued

Cruel, certainly.

Particularly as they didn't have to give her a (false) reason. In the first two years she could be lawfully dismissed for no reason at all if they so wished. A probation period has no legal baring on this (although "passing" it may have given her some contractual benefits).