We are NOT 'All in this together'

sharpe106

penners324 said:

Shouldn't you be slating your employer for refusing you furlough?

That is what the government want. People to blame companies rather than the government.

Becles

penners324 said:

Shouldn't you be slating your employer for refusing you furlough?

Both are to blame. I feel the employer is morally to blame. However from the Government guidance: 

"Employers are also entitled to furlough employees who are being shielded or off on long-term sick leave. It is up to employers to decide whether to furlough these employees. "

They claim they are following guidance and chose not to claim for me.

sharpe106

But unfortunately as you are working still they obviously have a need for you otherwise they would have furloughed you. The scheme was set up to save jobs but the government changed its mind pretty quickly without changing anything. From the company point of view if they furloughed you then your job might be lost, as they would either have to replace you or the work would not get done and the company would lose money. So the government saying that companies should furlough staff that are shielding is not very helpful without putting anything in place to help companies.

Becles

sharpe106 said:

But unfortunately as you are working still they obviously have a need for you otherwise they would have furloughed you. The scheme was set up to save jobs but the government changed its mind pretty quickly without changing anything. From the company point of view if they furloughed you then your job might be lost, as they would either have to replace you or the work would not get done and the company would lose money. So the government saying that companies should furlough staff that are shielding is not very helpful without putting anything in place to help companies.

I still think something should have been put in place to help shielding employees with the loss of wages for following public health advice to stay at home. At the briefings when it has been mentioned, the Government have claimed the furlough scheme is in place to support such people when it isn't.

sharpe106

Totally agree with you but the Job Retention Scheme was never meant to be that. The government did not really wanted to do anything so they tried to push the blame on to companies. Which has worked for them pretty well.

Boa21

There is just 'possibly' one good thing that will come out of all this. The previously comfortable middle class (I count myself in here) who have been exposed to the joy of the benefits system for the first time (not me) will be less keen to cheerlead all the crackdowns on what they perceived as the less deserving poor! 

TripleH

What puzzles me is why we, an Island have suffered so much when other countries in Europe and the world have not. (How have NZ done it, yes accepting they have a sparser population or Singapore with a denser population). We can argue till the cows come about who is at fault and why but that is a waste of time. Our priority should be 'how do we stop this happening again or how can we minimise the impact of a repeat situation'. Once we have safeguards in place then people can crucify whoever they want.

Ganga

TripleH said:

What puzzles me is why we, an Island have suffered so much when other countries in Europe and the world have not. (How have NZ done it, yes accepting they have a sparser population or Singapore with a denser population). We can argue till the cows come about who is at fault and why but that is a waste of time. Our priority should be 'how do we stop this happening again or how can we minimise the impact of a repeat situation'. Once we have safeguards in place then people can crucify whoever they want.

I presumed it was because we are a small island with a large population living in densely populated cities and also we declare every death including hospitals, retirement homes etc. while i feel that other countries do not. 

Smodlet

TripleH said:

What puzzles me is why we, an Island have suffered so much when other countries in Europe and the world have not. (How have NZ done it, yes accepting they have a sparser population or Singapore with a denser population). We can argue till the cows come about who is at fault and why but that is a waste of time. Our priority should be 'how do we stop this happening again or how can we minimise the impact of a repeat situation'. Once we have safeguards in place then people can crucify whoever they want.

I agree with your point that, as an island, we should be in a better position to restrict infection from outside.  Despite the Channel tunnel, we are still rabies free but just look at our stance on immigration:  We pay immigrants to come in; other countries charge an entry fee and/or have very strict criteria for admittance such as having a needed skill.

We have suffered from decades of mismanagement by successive governments, imho.  Why are we, one of the supposed richest countries in the world, in the worst 10% of the death rate from Covid 19?  Because our government is incompetent, that's why.  From what I have heard, South Korea had around 300 deaths; last I heard (I avoid the news like the plague) we were over 37,000... Go figure.