Agency/ Temp employers agreed to furlough staff?

Samspinner

Anybody had agreed furlough from an agency?

Tabatha_Kitten

Im struggling. 
The agency want my company to guarantee they will definitely want me back but they cant even guarantee that for their own permanent staff. 
The government guidelines seem to be full of holes which I'm highly likely to drop through.

SXX

Samspinner said:

Anybody had agreed furlough from an agency?

Hello - good question.  I have received confirmation from several solicitors that I qualify for furlough as I meet the criteria (ie on agency payroll on 28.02 and agency has no work because the temp market had died).  My agency still has not agreed to furlough me even though I have confirmed to them that I am willing to defer my payment until they receive the grant from the government.  This would mean that they do not have to pay me until the grant money comes through.  But so far they are not budging.  Several lawyers have said the only thing I can do is appeal to their better nature.  Also I spoke to another agency who I am registered with and her response was quite aggressive and also factually wrong.  Basically it will be too much work for them to furlough. and to be honest she really did not know what she was talking about.   I will be writing to my MP because this is a stupid situation whereby I am eligible but my agency is not expected to honour that.  That surely can't be right, it makes no sense and it leaves agency workers in a horrible situation.  I will keep pursuing with my agency and let you know if I get anywhere.  Another lawyer said I should ask the agency where their furlough policy came from.   (I suspect they made it up on the hoof).  I really do think something needs to be done.  Perhaps people who are eligible should write to their MP as this scheme clearly has not been thought through and also perhaps we need the media to cover the plight of agency workers. 

Tabatha_Kitten

Martin Lewis tweeted this earlier
A plea to all UK employers. If people can't work for any reason - furlough em. It's not cheating the system, it's upholding it...
It would be nice to think our agencies would want to look after us, after all, look at the effort they put into recruiting us!
Unfortunately the agency I work for had never heard of furlough until I told them my company was furloughing many of my colleagues with permanent contracts. 
Unfortunately for me they now appear to be scrambling around looking for any way they can to get out of it.

Samspinner

Thanks Sxx. Excellent response and by the lack of responses to my query from anybody else seems to confirm nobody has had furlough agreed through an agency. They (Angency companies ) will all stick together as not one will want so set a precedent. We're in a catch 22 situation and they don't want to blink first. I'm not sure how long to hold out and they not claiming Universal credit if they hold back on furlough.

Nu

Hi, I work as a temp for an agency in property sales recruitment. I am not sure if the agency would pay me the furlough money or the actual client company I work for on a temporary basis through the agency.  I am also on the 12 week isolation as instructed by the NHS.  Tomorrow I will be attempting to clarify this with the agency for starters and then the client company if necessary .  Just wanted to be armed with as much help as anyone may be able to give.  It looks like this is going to be a fight from what you are saying.

mkpeter

Hi all

I work as a contractor for Nissan via a contract agency Expleo on a 1 year rolling contract ( been there over 7 years now) payed by PAYE

When we were contacted last week to say the place was shutting until further notice the contact agency insisted we take the first 3 days as holiday. We thought that was ok - ish as would give them time to sort out getting us on the retention scheme ( I am payed PAYE). Now though over a week later the only info I can get from them is that they are not sure we qualify as out status is 'PAYE Worker' and not 'PAYE employee'

Has anyone else had this problem?

Samspinner

Why the government can't just pay 80% of average earnings from last month/year whichever is larger to anyone who is on PAYE is beyond me.

Samspinner

The big mistake the chancellor has made is he's left the responsibility to claim furlough to the employers who gain nothing from it. They have to commit time and loaned money to fulfill it so why would they do it??!

SXX

Samspinner said:

The big mistake the chancellor has made is he's left the responsibility to claim furlough to the employers who gain nothing from it. They have to commit time and loaned money to fulfill it so why would they do it??!

I agree with you.  The chancellor and the people who came up with the scheme clearly have never temped and therefore have no knowledge about how agencies operate. This just have not been thought this through as far as agency temps are concerned. I for one will be keeping up the pressure by emailing my MP (as it is a govt scheme and they need to sort it out) and I will also be emailing No 10.  
I also emailed REC (Recruitment and Employment Confederation) and they said I need to take it up with the agency and only if I have a complaint against the agency, I can ask REC to look into it on the assumption that the agency is a member of the REC.  My agency is a member of the REC.

juliee19

I think mkpeter is spot on.

While I am sure the legislation was designed to include everyone on PAYE, it was hurried. This is not a criticism, it needed to be to provide reassurance and avoid panic. However, it seems that agencies are using the subtle difference in the wording of "employee" as opposed to "worker" to justify not applying to the scheme on our behalf. In addition, the hiring companies are reluctant to guarantee taking people on again when they are uncertain of their own future and fear legal recourse if they back down on the agreement.

Like many others, not just those engaged by an agency, I can only hope that the gaps may be plugged over the coming days and weeks. Unfortunately, as the scheme is voluntary I fear that this will still not change the outcome for many.