NHS and furlough

kirstycobie

hi,

does anyone know if a nhs staff member can be furloughed if they are unable to carry out their usual job and not able to work at home or due to having no child care due to having a 2 year old?

thanks

gary83

 kirstycobie said:

hi,

does anyone know if a nhs staff member can be furloughed if they are unable to carry out their usual job and not able to work at home or due to having no child care due to having a 2 year old?

thanks

Childcare is irrelevant when it comes to furlough. furlough is only applicable if your employer can’t operate or has no work for you to do, it’d be very hard for the NHS to claim that they had no work for you to do & they were furloughing you instead of making you redundant, in addition the guidance says this on the public sector;

The government expects that the scheme will not be used by many public sector organisations, as the majority of public sector employees are continuing to provide essential public services or contribute to the response to the coronavirus outbreak.

kirstycobie

Thanks for the comment, this was from martins Facebook page and states this about children thanks

Mrsn

kirstycobie said:

Thanks for the comment, this was from martins Facebook page and states this about children thanks

Whilst Martin is trying to make the government aware of the struggles of those with childcare or shielding families members nothing has changed at this point in time. It is very stressful I am sure but the furlough scheme still doesn’t apply.

gary83

unfortunately HR departments aren’t going to make any decisions based on what’s written on Facebook, Wikipedia or anywhere else online they can & will only go by what’s written in the government guidelines. Furlough wasn’t designed as a welfare system, for a start what kind of fair welfare system would be reliant on voluntary operation & coughing up the money in advance by employers, it’s not means tested or equal in the amounts it gives. It was designed to support businesses. The government tried to address the problem of childcare issues by keeping schools open for those that need it though I appreciate you’re not benefiting from that scheme either.

Jeremy535897

I don't think NHS can furlough.

sharpe106

NHS can not and they are still crying out for people to help, I doubt any government employee will get furloughed until things get a lot worse. Why would the pay 80% for them to do nothing when for 20% more they can redeploy them to do something else. 

SteveGreen

I currently work for a medical centre operated by a group of GP partners within UK.  My role is setting up the appointment booking system and I have been there 5 months.  My entire role has disappeared and my bosses sent me on furlough for 2 months as working from home is difficult for me due to the lack of role being available (the appoint system has been scrapped temporarily).  I was asked to furlough for 2 months but apparently NHS staff cannot be furloughed.  But there is no work available I can do at home and yet I have a medical condition that means for my safety I should work at home so thought I the criteria perfectly however because we are majority funded by NHS the govt is refusing to pay the 80% of salaries so I now have to work in office and potentially risk my health or stay ho,e and take zero pay.  How is this fair?

sharpe106

It has nothing to do with fairness, the scheme was set up to protect jobs that may be lost. Yours is not at risk so therefore does not meet the criteria. Why is it fair that the government pay you 80% to stay at home? And then pay somebody else to do the job that you are doing.

onwards&upwards

SteveGreen said:

I currently work for a medical centre operated by a group of GP partners within UK.  My role is setting up the appointment booking system and I have been there 5 months.  My entire role has disappeared and my bosses sent me on furlough for 2 months as working from home is difficult for me due to the lack of role being available (the appoint system has been scrapped temporarily).  I was asked to furlough for 2 months but apparently NHS staff cannot be furloughed.  But there is no work available I can do at home and yet I have a medical condition that means for my safety I should work at home so thought I the criteria perfectly however because we are majority funded by NHS the govt is refusing to pay the 80% of salaries so I now have to work in office and potentially risk my health or stay ho,e and take zero pay.  How is this fair?

You might get redeployed to support clinical areas.  You would get a risk assessment first to take your health issue into account, but unless you are in the shielding group I doubt they’d pay you to stay at home.

As a key worker can you not access a nursery place for your child?  The nurseries are attached to hospitals are still running for the most part.

Andy_L

SteveGreen said:

I currently work for a medical centre operated by a group of GP partners within UK.  My role is setting up the appointment booking system and I have been there 5 months.  My entire role has disappeared and my bosses sent me on furlough for 2 months as working from home is difficult for me due to the lack of role being available (the appoint system has been scrapped temporarily).  I was asked to furlough for 2 months but apparently NHS staff cannot be furloughed.  But there is no work available I can do at home and yet I have a medical condition that means for my safety I should work at home so thought I the criteria perfectly however because we are majority funded by NHS the govt is refusing to pay the 80% of salaries so I now have to work in office and potentially risk my health or stay ho,e and take zero pay.  How is this fair?

If you're employed by GPs you may not actually be an NHS employee 

"The government expects that the scheme will not be used by many public sector organisations, as the majority of public sector employees are continuing to provide essential public services or contribute to the response to the coronavirus outbreak." 
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/check-if-you-could-be-covered-by-the-coronavirus-job-retention-scheme

It's fair because it's the same for everyone