Supply Teachers Furlough?

David_Isaac_Lewis

Dear MSE Forum, 

I am a supply employed by Uniform Education https://www.uniformeducation.co.uk/ under the umbrella group called JSA (https://jsagroup.co.uk/). 
JSA informed me on the scheme opening today, that they will not apply for the furlough scheme unless:

• The Government reimburse Umbrella companies who furlough their Umbrella workers based on National Minimum Wage (NMW) or reimburse Umbrella companies based on average earnings.

• The Government make it clear they will reimburse Umbrella companies for the cost of holiday pay accruing against furlough payments made to workers. As at this point, we can only assume that the Government will not do so. 

Please can someone help me understand what is going on here??
By all accounts myself and my colleagues fall completely within the safety net of the furlough scheme ... we are all on PAYE before the dates in question and had work confirmed over the summer term. 

They did not explain in detail why they could not furlough us, if the government does not commit to the above points. 

Kindest regards and hope you are all staying safe! 
David. 

Andy_L

They can furlough you. They are not obliged to.

LilElvis

If they furlough you as the rules stand at the moment then the employer, rather than HMRC, will be liable to pay you the holiday pay which you would accrue whilst on furlough. Even were you to agree to take holiday during furlough the employer would be obliged to top up to 100% - so 20% of the holiday pay plus employer costs. So furloughing you wouldn't be at nil cost to the employer and they're obviously not prepared to bear that cost.