Agency/ Temp employers agreed to furlough staff?

Nu

I know i put this already, but does anyone have clarification on whether as agency workers, it is the agency or the client company providing the work who are due to pay this furlough money? Anyone?

sharpe106

There has been no clarification on this just that they are eligible. I would guess it depends how they pay you. If you are paid by the employing company an they then pay the agency a fee, then they could easily furlough you if they wanted. However if they pay an agency say £25 a hour for them to provide a body they have no idea how much you get paid. So how can they furlough that person. 

Nu

Sharpe106 :  'However if they pay an agency say £25 a hour for them to provide a body they have no idea how much you get paid. So how can they furlough that person. '
This is a good point, and it is my position. The client company (not sure if this would be referred to as an umbrella company) pays my agency an hourly rate for me. I am on the agency paye payroll, which according to martin lewis makes me an 'employee' as opposed to worker.
Sorry I am jsut tryig to clarify before speaking to my agency so that I am armed ... although it may be a redundant effort if this payment is entirely at the discretion of the employer, which seems to me to be beyond bizarre! And hopefully will be redressed in the coming weeks

Tabatha_Kitten

I'm struggling to see how any of us will ever qualify for furlough from our agencies even though the government guidelines state we are eligible.

SXX

Tabatha_Kitten said:

I'm struggling to see how any of us will ever qualify for furlough from our agencies even though the government guidelines state we are eligible.

Agreed.

Nu

I thought I had posted this earlier but got distracted. I spoke with my agency today and was delighted to discover that they are already in the process of working through the process to apply for furlough for all the staff, including the temporary workers. I was told that they will be sending out letters to all staff on Friday informing them of this.  I got the impression that they were very happy to be able to do it for all employees and didn't see there had been any resistance to the idea at all. So hopefully you can get it from your agencies too.

SXX

My agency is still refusing to furlough me even though I qualify.

Nu

SXX said:

My agency is still refusing to furlough me even though I qualify.

Sorry to hear that. And it really doesn't make sense. 
Also the request from some agencies that client guarantees work doesn't make sense. Such a guarantee would be irelevant as the money will be paid to the agency as a government grant based on your previous earnings, not earnings to come or that might have been. They are loosing nothing...unless they decide to top the 80% up to the discretionary 100%...which is evidently unlikely.  It sounds like they do not understand the scheme at all and likely they haven't actually even tried to look at it. It is pretty amazing that agency temps are covered in this government measure at all (more often than not treated as the forgotten spare part) and so it is not surprising that some agencies are not getting their heads around it. Maybe emailing some of the specific info on this website from Martin Lewis might help. And also if they do finally agree when they see the light I imagine it will be backdated... hopefully!  They may just be running scared...
Definitely think writing to mp is worth it if they refuse to see any sense.