Working one day per week so cannot be furloughed - any ideas?

Rozzie

Hello – looking for some advice please?  My daughter works in a shop which is still open as it is classed as essential.  However, obviously business has dropped off, and her employers (it’s a one-off family business) have said that each member of staff can only work (and be paid for) one day a week.  This means that the staff can’t be furloughed as you’re not allowed to work for your employer if furloughed.  So it seems that each member of staff is supposed to survive on 20% of their normal wages.  My daughter says that if she complains or demands to be furloughed, there’s a good chance that she won’t have a job at all when life returns to “normal”.  She suffers with her mental health and this situation is stressing her out.  Could anyone offer us any advice please? 

HornetSaver

Depends on her circumstances (age, living situation, childcare costs etc) but I would imagine in this situation that applying for Universal Credit would increase her take-home either slightly or substantially.

Has the conversation been had about why the employer are reluctant to go down the furlough route? It's one of those situations where if there were five of us (for instance), I'd rather run the risk of working 5 days for 100% in the knowledge that my colleagues got 80% for doing nothing, than the certainty of working 1 day for 20% in the knowledge my colleagues were in the same boat.

Rozzie

Hi - thanks for replying x
My daughter is 24 and single. Luckily she lives in a flat which I rent to her. As I said, she has mental health issues and this was a way that she could learn to live independently, without being alone.  So she will be OK financially (although her co-workers are not so lucky). She cannot get universal credit as she has some savings.
I think they are reluctant to furlough because, if any staff get sick, they want to be able to call up other staff members to cover - so they can't be furloughed as then they would not be able to work.

HornetSaver

There are creative ways around the situation if the employer was so-minded. The minimum furlough period is three weeks, so you could get some furloughed straight away (roughly the number you would need if you only employed full time staff, maybe one more in case demand picks up) with the rest at not-quite-so reduced hours, then furlough the bulk of employees after three or four weeks with those left working being pretty much full time. Should one of the remaining ones get ill, recall one of the first people and furlough the sick person.

From the employer's perspective while this sounds complicated it would allow them to reduce risk - dip their toe in the water to ensure the furlough system is not putting them out of pocket before fully committing to it. I know it could be a tricky sell but if the alternative is the certainty of the current situation. The downside to employees is that the people furloughed first would get a good deal (possibly earning more in the first three weeks than those NOT furloughed). However once un-furloughed they would not as best I can tell be unable to be furloughed a second time, so they could lose out on money later if the employer had too many people they COULDN'T furlough and had to enforce measures like the one you say they're imposing right now. They would get a good early situation up front in the knowledge that they were esssentially being paid for the risk.

Whether anything changes on the work front or not, hope the coming weeks treat you and your daughter well.

Rozzie

Thank you so much for this - I'll have a chat with my daughter and maybe even have a chat with the employers!  I really appreciate your help and advice.  Keep safe and well xx

HornetSaver

Hope things work out.

They might not go for it, they might have concerns more complex than what I outline. But I think right now the important thing is  that businesses do what they are able to do for their employees as a whole, without costing themselves any money or harming their ability to run the business. I hope that they'd at least give it some thought - sadly it may be a no but IMO worth exploring.

persil26

sole director on furlough, work 1 day a week? as a sole director on 80% but would like to do the 1 day per week to receive limited trade  (and not claim those 4 days), my mates accountant said this was the way to do it. although i cant find any supporting info online to this, in fact appears that it needs to be 3 CONSECUTIVE weeks (maybe work the 4th week), but this isnt helpful to keep the business on its feet.

Jeremy535897

persil26 said:

sole director on furlough, work 1 day a week? as a sole director on 80% but would like to do the 1 day per week to receive limited trade  (and not claim those 4 days), my mates accountant said this was the way to do it. although i cant find any supporting info online to this, in fact appears that it needs to be 3 CONSECUTIVE weeks (maybe work the 4th week), but this isnt helpful to keep the business on its feet.

No. £ weeks on furlough doing nothing, 1 week doing work is the best you can do.