NHS AGENCY Furlough

Thebutcherboy

I am struggling to read through the rafts of information to give me a clear picture of what I am entitled to. I am an NHS agency worker that has been told to isolate by the government for three months. I haven’t been at work since the government changed the guidelines in early March. Initially, I was encouraged by the Chancellors help by paying a furlough payment to people like me.
So I have been trying to contact my umbrella company to sort this out and they have been vague to the point of obstructive. My agency(s) have told me that the umbrella company is responsible to arrange the payment, and they are playing a little dumb saying that there is no news from the HMRC how this will be rolled out.
My wife runs her own company which has shut until this madness is over, she works from home so there are no high street ratable business premises to receive any funding and her bank is being less than helpful. We are in the hole for £25K for an Expo event she had arranged but now can't go ahead because of the lockdown, adding to our woes. She already knows, however, the information relating to her own staff that she has had to furlough and gone through the process with her accountant. So why has my umbrella company not been told the same information as my wife?
I am more than a month with zero income, my savings are nearly exhausted, as am I, with worry. 
If I don’t hear soon, I am going to have to risk things and go to work. I am an anaesthetic technician, so that places me on the front line in ICU, but if I don’t have any date for income, I really don’t know how I am going to feed my family in May and it will leave me no option but to bite the bullet.
I am desperate for information. Has anyone got any light on the situation?
Many thanks in advance.
PS, I have stalled all my HP/loans/Mortgage payments, my household, at the bare bones needs £1800 to function. I won't be able to meet that on the 1st May.

Mrsn

The NHS aren’t eligible for furlough as it is government funded, the intention was never to offer it for those sorts of roles.

Further furlough was never intended to be offered to those needing to shield due to medical reasons. Others working in NHS roles posting on here needing to be shielded have been offered SSP at the most.

Im sorry if this is not the news you wanted to hear. Your wife whilst not eligible for rates relief may possibly be entitled to the other self employment grant scheme that should be rolling out soon. You should also as a matter of urgency look into universal credit to help with the drop in income.

Andy_L

Mrsn said:

The NHS aren’t eligible for furlough as it is government funded, the intention was never to offer it for those sorts of roles.

 "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."

Mrsn said:

Further furlough was never intended to be offered to those needing to shield due to medical reasons. Others working in NHS roles posting on here needing to be shielded have been offered SSP at the most.

"If you’re on sick leave or self-isolating because of coronavirus (COVID-19), speak to your employer about whether you’re eligible to be furloughed – you should get Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) as a minimum while you are on sick leave or self isolating. Your employer can furlough you at any time- if they do, you will no longer receive sick pay, but should be treated as any other furloughed employee.

If you are shielding in line with public health guidance or required to stay home due to an individual in your household shielding and are unable to work from home, then you should speak to your employer about whether they plan to place staff on furlough."

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/check-if-you-could-be-covered-by-the-coronavirus-job-retention-scheme

Mrsn said:

Others working in NHS roles posting on here needing to be shielded have been offered SSP at the most.

Ultimately it is totally at the employers discretion if they offer furlough as opposed to sick pay, nothing compels them to do so

sharpe106

The NHS are not furloughing staff. Why would they?

Thebutcherboy

I work in the NHS as an independent medical professional. I am ostensibly self employed, but because IR35 rules, I had to break up my limited company in 2016. Since then, I have been working under an 'umbrella' company, who I have been told by the agencies that I work for, is the umbrella companies responsibility to arrange this. They haven't ad seem to be unwilling. I have colleagues that work for other umbrella companies, ad they have squared everything away and are waiting form the green light form the HMRC.