Apprentice furlough vs laid off

dianasim

Hi guys, 
My niece is an apprentice hairdresser in a salon which obviously closed down due to COVID. My niece has been ‘employed’ by the salon since August 2019 and paid each week an apprentice wage. But since Corona shut down she has not received a penny. The salon owner says she can not claim furlough for her? We have no idea why? Does anyone know if she has any rights regarding and financial help or rights to the furlough. She has said that the salon owner has never given her a contract but she is registered with a local hairdressing college. 

Any help / advice would be much appreciated. Xx

poppy12345

No one has any rights to be furloughed but you can't be furloughed unless the RTI was sent by 19th March. If she's not on the payroll then this will be why they can't furlough her. The 10th June is the last day that she can be furloughed, so she doesn't have long.

Jeremy535897

What was she paid?

sharpe106

They can claim for apprentices and she was employed before the cut off, So they should be able to furlough them. It appears more like they do not want to but are using that as an easy get out.

dianasim

sharpe106 said:

They can claim for apprentices and she was employed before the cut off, So they should be able to furlough them. It appears more like they do not want to but are using that as an easy get out.

This is what we are thinking. Or the owner just has not put her through the books as an official PAYE ! But then where does this leave her? Xx

dianasim

Jeremy535897 said:

What was she paid?

An apprentice wage so minimum apprentice wage each week dependant on her working hours which was generally around 40 hours x

dianasim

poppy12345 said:

No one has any rights to be furloughed but you can't be furloughed unless the RTI was sent by 19th March. If she's not on the payroll then this will be why they can't furlough her. The 10th June is the last day that she can be furloughed, so she doesn't have long.

So let’s say the salon owner has not put her on payroll, where should this leave her? Surely the owner / boss has a duty of care to an apprentice (student) to ensure they have gone through all channels correctly? Xx

sharpe106

Unfortunately furlough is optional, what does her contract say about pay?  

dianasim

sharpe106 said:

Unfortunately furlough is optional, what does her contract say about pay?  

Unfortunately it doesn’t seem her boss has offered her a contract. I would have thought that as an apprentice the college would have ensured her rights were protected. I have had apprentices in my line of work and had to ensure that all documentation was in place for them. X

Jeremy535897

dianasim said:

Jeremy535897 said:

What was she paid?

An apprentice wage so minimum apprentice wage each week dependant on her working hours which was generally around 40 hours x

That is about £156 a week. At that level, although she wouldn't have been paid enough to pay tax or NIC, she was paid above the LEL and so should have been put on the payroll. There should be nothing stopping her being furloughed if that were the case, but unfortunately a lot of employers don't think that someone paying no tax or NIC needs to be on the payroll, particularly if they have no other employees.

sharpe106

You could try contacting the college then.