Furlough for agency workers/umbrella companies. Any luck anyone?

louby40

My partner has been working for an agency as a labourer and has been paid via an umbrella company. There is no work and the agency isn't fully operational. He's contacted them via email and they have told him they are waiting for clarification from the government about this. He was working for them on and before the 28th February. He's searched on Gov.uk sites and they state agency workers are entitled to furlough but the agency are dragging their heels.
Has anyone had success with this? 

Becles

No. The agencies I work for have decided not to apply for furlough so I have to claim ESA. There is nothing I can do about this. It's really unfair as I'm shielding so I can't find alternative work either.

mcarter92

Becles said:

No. The agencies I work for have decided not to apply for furlough so I have to claim ESA. There is nothing I can do about this. It's really unfair as I'm shielding so I can't find alternative work either.

I am in the same situation, the agency are pushing me off, claiming they are awaiting more government advice so don't have an answer yet. 
Would you know why an agency/company wouldn't want to apply for furlough ? Surely it is in their interest

samo123

In the same boat,
Been working for the same company for just under a year, 39 hours every week, been told by the agency that im entitled to nothing  (i need to discuss it with the HR to find out why)

They said theyll let know when my company is open again, want to keep me on but not put me on forlough certainly sound fishy.

7Phil

In many cases the agencies don't yet know the answers. The details about the rules are still becoming clear as agency worker situations are more complicated.
If the rules aren't established then the agency won't know them and therefore cannot be in a position to tell you them. They definitely cannot make any kind of promises to you just yet.

Agency workers are being provided for. If there is nothing for you at the moment but things come later that you are eligible for then you will get those entitlements backdated.

Theseconddeebo

louby40 said:

My partner has been working for an agency as a labourer and has been paid via an umbrella company. There is no work and the agency isn't fully operational. He's contacted them via email and they have told him they are waiting for clarification from the government about this. He was working for them on and before the 28th February. He's searched on Gov.uk sites and they state agency workers are entitled to furlough but the agency are dragging their heels.
Has anyone had success with this? 

Useful to separate out the terminology here. If he's paid via umbrella company, then the umbrella company is his employer, he will have a "contract" of employment with them. An agency finds the work for him to do, but they don't employ him. If he hasn't already, then he should contact the umbrella company and ask about furlough. I work via umbrella, and although I havent needed to discuss furlough with them (yet!) they emailed to say we are covered by the scheme. 
Good luck.  

SXX

My agency won't furlough either even though I qualify.  Initially part of it may have been they were waiting for more info on agency/furlough but I now don't think there will be further detailed info so the agency should just go by the current Govt criteria.   My general view is that agencies can't be bothered.   Which is daft because once things start to get back to normal they will have to recruit new temps because I for one won't ne working for my agency again.  They have been unnecessarily aggressive about the whole thing.

gary83

A lot of agencies will be struggling with cash flow at the moment, as they’re just the middle man they find you work the company pays them for your services, they take their cut & pass the remainder on to you. If they haven’t got anyone out filling positions they have no money coming in so can’t keep paying wages. Sadly I don’t think agency’s will struggle to recruit new temps when this is all over, there’s going to be a lot more people hunting for jobs I’m afraid.

SXX

response to gary83.  I did offer to defer my payment until agency received grant from HMRC but to no avail.  Sure there will be more candidates but surely it makes business sense to retain a tried/trusted/experienced pool of candidates then to start from scratch.  the temp market for the short temp jobs moves very quickly so there isn't time to go out and register/reference new candidates.  Also I thought the furlough scheme was to help employer retain staff (temp or perm) who they would normally have made redundant because  their recruit business has been severely impacted by Covid 19

gary83

I can’t disagree with any of your points. Unfortunately for many people, those employed/switching jobs after 28th Feb, agency staff, employees of companies that just don’t want to furlough the government created this scheme in a hurry, made employers the gatekeepers and administrators, expect them to pay out their own cash first & finally made it purely optional. 

I guess this shows why we normally need such bureaucracy before a government scheme is introduced to try & make sure there aren’t so many gaping holes people can fall down 

lorraine2511

I’m in the same boat, agency keep saying they are looking into it and have to fit certain criteria. It would be much more helpful if they just said ‘no’ so that I’m not in limbo. I definitely won’t be seeking work from them after this has ended. Just like there are many people looking for work, there are also many agencies looking for workers.