Employer won’t pay furlough

Evansk1

I’m desperate for advice on furlough please.  5 weeks’ ago I handed in my notice to set up my own business (I only needed to give 1 week notice but as our boss died in January, I said to his Wife that I would stay a bit longer if necessary until she found a replacement for me).  Unfortunately a week later the Landlord evicted me from my treatment room so I no longer had a room to carry out my new business.  I therefore asked my employer if I could retract my notice - she refused but said she would appreciate it if I could still cover alternate Saturdays, to which I agreed.  At the time I wasn’t aware of the furlough scheme. I now understand that you cannot be furloughed if you are on reduced hours so on Thursday, I asked my employer if, just whilst we are going through the lockdown, she could get other staff members to cover the Saturdays so that they are not losing money & put me on furlough.  I have already completed my notice period & was only working on Saturdays as a gesture of goodwill.  She has told me she can’t furlough me as I am a key worker & also stated that she could only offer me a Saturday Contract of 7 hours bi-weekly, however, there was no new Contract issued as, like I said, I was only doing those hours as a favour.   If I’d just handed in my notice & left at end of my notice period, I would have been entitled to furlough.  As a result of our conversations, yesterday I decided to terminate my employment with immediate effect.  With hindsight I should have just done this in the first place.   Can I now ask my employer to furlough me?  On top of all of this my till is £300 short & I have got to pay this back ☹️  I currently have no income & don’t know how I’m going to pay this back.  If she was to furlough me I could pay that back in a month but as things stand at the moment I can’t pay any of it back.  I’m so stressed by the whole situation and feel like I’m just been used to do the shifts that nobody else wants to cover.  Sorry for the long post but I really don’t know what to do.  If anyone can offer me any advice at all I would greatly appreciate it.  Thanks in advance 

sharpe106

Why is the till short by that much? That seems rather a lot. Furlough is still down to the employer so even if you had left earlier does not mean you would have been furloughed anyway.

7Phil

Errr - this all sounds like a mess and I am struggling to find threads to grab a hold of and build a discussion around.
I'll throw a few things out as dot-points and maybe you can find something in it all:

1. Sounds like she is being rough on you, you tried to help her out in her bad times. Now times are bad for you and she is not returning any favours. That is unfair on you.
2. You can't be furloughed on reduced hours: That's correct.
3. If you were to go back to normal (pretending the last month never happened) she said you cannot be furloughed because she considers you a "key worker": That is incorrect. She could arrange for you to be furloughed provided you meet eligibility requirements.
4. You said if you quit at your notice period you would be entitled to furlough: That is incorrect. You are not entitled to it, furlough is at the mutual agreement of both employee and employer.

It sounds like you have completely quit now. You could of course still try to get back on the books but you are going to have to go back to her "cap in hand". Sadly you are now on the back-foot. You will need to pick a good time and negotiate with her even if that means you swallow some pride to get what you can. There are no laws to compel her to return moral favours but it gives you a standing point for negotiating.

I can't get started on the missing £300. It's a separate issue. Do you suspect any crime has been involved? It is a lot of money and if she is holding you legally liable then I would seek advice from somewhere about your rights (Citz Advice maybe?). Maybe other forumites can direct you?

If you were on the cusp of starting your own therapy/treatment business then you have adaptable skills to bounce back on. Try place your stresses to one side and focus on rebuilding, adapting or putting your foot in gaps that open up. That is the strongest way forward at the moment.

calcotti

If your income is low you may be able to claim Universal Credit.
Information here https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/benefits/universal-credit/. 
Claim online https://www.gov.uk/universal-credit/how-to-claim

There are online calculators to help you assess entitlement  https://www.gov.uk/benefits-calculators

You will be excluded from claiming UC if you have capital/savings over £16,000.

Be aware that claiming UC will end any Tax Credits, Housing Benefit or other means tested benefits you currently get.

You may also be able to claim Council Tax Reduction from your local council

aleeam

Employers in my country laid off 4 different departments completely without any compensation or Provident Fund. Things are pretty bad around here.  

whizzywoo

aleeam said:

Employers in my country laid off 4 different departments completely without any compensation or Provident Fund. Things are pretty bad around here.  

@aleeam
Exactly which country are you talking about?  

gary83

Evansk1 said:

 If I’d just handed in my notice & left at end of my notice period, I would have been entitled to furlough. 

No you wouldn’t, nobody is entitled to furlough. you’d have been entitled to ask her if she was feeling charitable & fancied doing you a favour & re-employing you & placing you immediately on furlough, your employer would have been entitled to say no if she wanted.