Is my employer stealing my furlough pay?

Uberbeck

Hi,
I have had my work temporarily stopped due to coronavirus and I have asked my employer if I am eligible to be on the furlough scheme. They said yes and that they have applied for me.

The problem is I have recieved no money and my employer keeps telling me they are waiting for payment, they cannot tell me when it is coming for how much I am to receive.

How do I find out if I have been entered in the scheme and if my employer has received my money?

Is my employer pocketing my money?

poppy12345

There's no way of checking if they claimed or not. You can check your tax account to see if it states any payments made to you from your employer. Once the employer claims then it's about 6 days before HMRC make payment.

[Deleted User]

Uberbeck said:

Hi,
I have had my work temporarily stopped due to coronavirus and I have asked my employer if I am eligible to be on the furlough scheme. They said yes and that they have applied for me.

The problem is I have recieved no money and my employer keeps telling me they are waiting for payment, they cannot tell me when it is coming for how much I am to receive.

How do I find out if I have been entered in the scheme and if my employer has received my money?

Is my employer pocketing my money?

I waited for over 25 working days to see a penny after they claimed. Despite what some people insist, claiming through an outsourcing payment company!/umbrella /agency takes far more time than a salaried employer waits, 6 days. I never thought I would get the money but I did and block two is meant to be due this week but I'm not holding my breath. Get in touch with your local MPs office, who should apply pressure. I did. 

[Deleted User]

Just to add... I received payslips beforehand, which had to be issued (apparently) for notifying HMRC

pramsay13

In theory your employer should be paying you on time as normal, either 80% or 100% of your salary. 

They then claim the money back from the government. Depending on your business this may or may not be possible so some people are having to wait until the employer actually has the money.

How much of a fuss you want to make depends on your relationship with your employer and your future plans, although it doesn't bode well if you are on here questioning if they have pocketed your money.

Jeremy535897

pramsay13 said:

In theory your employer should be paying you on time as normal, either 80% or 100% of your salary. 

They then claim the money back from the government. Depending on your business this may or may not be possible so some people are having to wait until the employer actually has the money.

How much of a fuss you want to make depends on your relationship with your employer and your future plans, although it doesn't bode well if you are on here questioning if they have pocketed your money.

An efficient employer can make claims and get paid before the normal due date for wage payments, but many are not efficient. Waiting to be paid CJRS is not a legal reason to fail to pay wages on time, but there may not be much an employee can do about it. As suggested above, check if your personal tax account shows if your employer says they have paid you. If it shows they say they have paid you, ask why you are still waiting. If you are claiming benefits such "payments" may reduce your entitlement.

Uberbeck

Thanks for the replies, I am with an umbrella company as I work agency. I have had other problems with them such as them not paying my NI or tax to HMRC, eventhough they deducted it from my payslips, and so I did not trust them. Was going to leave them then found out I needed to be with them from march if I wanted to claim furlough pay.

Tried a thousand emails to my employer and spoke to acas, but I might try WFranklin71 idea and write a letter to my MP.

poppy12345

There's been lots of threads on here regarding umbrella companies not furloughing employees because of the cost to them. If you search the forum you'll find those threads.

[Deleted User]

Uberbeck said:

Thanks for the replies, I am with an umbrella company as I work agency. I have had other problems with them such as them not paying my NI or tax to HMRC, eventhough they deducted it from my payslips, and so I did not trust them. Was going to leave them then found out I needed to be with them from march if I wanted to claim furlough pay.

Tried a thousand emails to my employer and spoke to acas, but I might try WFranklin71 idea and write a letter to my MP.

My friend is with an umbrella company and he's being paid but having to put up with the national minimum rate saga, although that might be backdated monies owed. My particular agency were part of 2500 agency workers being furloughed so that amount of auditing might have played a part in the delay. Just keep the pressure on. My local MPs office wrote to my agency and asked why the delay. They suggested the MP write to the Sec of State if they needed to to apply pressure as HMRC Had had grant approval but waiting way over 6 days for the funds. 

poppy12345

Do be aware that if your employer hasn't applied for the furlough for you the last date which they can do this is 10th June.

dunstonh

HMRC have been very efficient at paying the Furlough money to the company.   We got ours within 5 days of submitting it in April and with May's it turned up on the day of payroll.    The issue is not likely to be HMRC.    It is more likely the employer (or umbrella company) has not submitted the request to HMRC or has received it and has not paid it.     For those with a lot of people on their payroll, it could be a very time-consuming process.