Shielding and furlough advice needed

wweb1701

To everyone in the same boat, stay safe you cant replace a life.

wweb1701

Becles said:

I have been refused furlough as I'm shielding but the company still has work available. I'm left claiming benefits and have faced a severe drop in income which will cause financial difficulties. I think the wording on the guidance is too ambiguous and it should be mandatory that shielding people are placed on furlough or given other government help to get through this. 

Totally agree it's so wrong 

wweb1701

unholyangel said:

calcotti said:

Imhotep1989 said:

It's because the guidance has changed yet again in the last 24 hours, 

It was changed on 4th April.

I think perhaps the confusion lies in the employee guidance just saying if you are shielding and unable to work from home. While the employers guidance states unable to work from home and would otherwise be made redundant. 

But the employee guidance also states that you should ask your employer if they plan on furloughing staff. Which could read as being at their discretion but given they're implementing this as an alternative to redundancy, its not a leap for them to be unconsciously alternating the terms in guidance. 

Everyone has to pay the household bills and its normally than ssp payment.

Theseconddeebo

sharpe106 said:

Theseconddeebo said:

Right but the other side of the coin is, they can furlough staff for that reason alone. That can be 1 person or the entire workforce. 

Which bit are you looking at, as all it says is they should ask if the employer are planning on placing staff on furlough not that it is a criteria for it. 

I think we're both reading the same thing and interpreting it differently. I think the guidance since I last read it has been updated and now includes the following: 

Shielding Employees

Employees who are unable to work because they are shielding in line with public health guidance (or need to stay home with someone who is shielding) can be furloughed.