Can my partner be furloughed if we are struggling with child care?

HnuterBrice

I am classed as a key worker and therefore still having to go into work. My wife works part time and is having to work from home, but we have lost 3 days worth of childcare for our two children who don’t go to nursery and are to young for school. My wife is having to work very unsociable hours and at weekends just to do her hours as otherwise she is looking after our children. If she requests to be furloughed can this be refused in light of our child care situation?

bradders1983

Any employer can refuse it for any reason. Especially if there is actual work for her to be doing.

Mrsn

As Bradders has pointed out refusal can happen. She is a key worker therefore very very unlikely her request would be approved I’m afraid, lots of people are in the same situation. When you say don’t go to nursery is that because it’s closed or they have never been?

HnuterBrice

My wife isn’t a key worker, I’m a key worker (sorry if I didn’t make that clear). My children don’t go to nursery because they have never been and we wouldn’t want to start them now as putting them at any kind of risk no matter how small is not acceptable. Also, to start them now would just be unfair especially as they would need taster days and a settling in period, which would impact on our working hours anyway.

sharpe106

HnuterBrice said:

My wife isn’t a key worker, I’m a key worker (sorry if I didn’t make that clear). My children don’t go to nursery because they have never been and we wouldn’t want to start them now as putting them at any kind of risk no matter how small is not acceptable. Also, to start them now would just be unfair especially as they would need taster days and a settling in period, which would impact on our working hours anyway.

I understand your reasons, and agree I would not want to either but on the other hand is if fair to expect taxpayers to pay for her to stay at home ? When there are systems in place to help. 

HnuterBrice

I’m a taxpayer and a key worker so I would say it’s fair. Taxpayers money is used for far less deserving reasons. There isn’t really a system in place to help either (other than furlough) because if we sent our children to nursery so my wife could go to work, she would earn less than what it would cost to send them to nursery, so we would be penalising ourselves even more so now, when she has been forced to take a 20% pay cut as well.

Mrsn

The main bulk of the furlough scheme would still apply regardless though, there is work to be done then furlough wouldn’t apply. 

It was originally designed to protect jobs that would otherwise be made redundant, lots of people seem to have forgotten that  when all the new guidance came out regarding childcare and shielding these aren’t reasons for furlough alone.

Fire_Fox

HnuterBrice said:

My wife isn’t a key worker, I’m a key worker (sorry if I didn’t make that clear). My children don’t go to nursery because they have never been and we wouldn’t want to start them now as putting them at any kind of risk no matter how small is not acceptable. Also, to start them now would just be unfair especially as they would need taster days and a settling in period, which would impact on our working hours anyway.

Your wife is working antisocial hours because of your joint choice ("want") not to send your children to nursery or otherwise seek new childcare options. Your reasons may well be logical, reasonable but it is not an imperative outside your control situation as you describe it.

Do not see how your wife meets the furlough criteria: your wife can work from home, her employer has work to be done, your wife has thd appropriate skillset, they can and will pay her salary.

What is more likely is that your wife will quickly become stressed/ anxious/ exhausted/ sleep poorly, especially if you are unable to take up any slack at home (NOT a hint or dig, I mean unable due to your own keyworker role).  If that happens your wife should tell her GP who may diagnose, treat or even 'sign her off' work entirely.

HnuterBrice

I appreciate your point but that is a choice we are having to make due to something that has happened which is completely out of our control (like everybody else). Even if we did decide to send my children to nursery, which I think would be more unreasonable than my wife being furloughed, then there is no guarantee anyway that we will get a place. Fellow key workers of mine have been refused places at schools for their children even though they’re a key worker. So even like you say, if it is our ‘want’ there is no guarantee, so my question still stands, should her company be doing more to help and furlough her if there are no other child care options? Not trying to be difficult just would like some clarification on where we legally stand as in my opinion (which obviously doesn’t stand for anything) I think it is a perfectly acceptable reason to be furloughed. People at my work are furloughed if they have been affected by school closures so I don’t see how this is any different.

poppy12345

HnuterBrice said:

so my question still stands, should her company be doing more to help and furlough her if there are no other child care options?

There's nothing stopping them but you can't make them furlough her. You may not like the comments already made but furlough is still entirely down to the employer.

LilElvis

Lots of people working from home are also having to juggle their work with childcare - many of them working full time hours without the ability to vary those hours to better accommodate looking after their children. It isn't going to be forever.