Furlough due to accident in works Van

LostAlice

Hi all
My husband unfortunately had an accident on the way home from work in his company van. The van is unusable at need assessing by insurance etc.
He was given a van as a replacement last night and told to wait at home in the morning 
He has been told that they want to put him back on Furlough as they don't think the van he has now is that reliable 

My question is that I don't feel that he should go back on furlough as if it was so called normal times that wouldn't be able to happen...its not directly link to coronavirus 

Thanks for any advice 

bradders1983

Sadly the scheme is now being used for any old reason other than the reason it was set up for in the first place.  So assuming he has already been furloughed at some point, they can quite happily put him back on it. Sorry.

sharpe106

It is not what the scheme is for,  but there is nothing in the rules stopping them. What would be alternative for your husband if they did not?

LostAlice

Thanks all , 
The alternative would be to use the van he has been given which they say is a bit unreliable, he could then do his job as normal 

jimkelly

In normal times, the company may have been able to afford having him sat around doing nothing, but these are not normal times.

It's not really in the spirit of the furlough scheme though.

LostAlice

jimkelly said:

In normal times, the company may have been able to afford having him sat around doing nothing, but these are not normal times.

It's not really in the spirit of the furlough scheme though.

Hi there 
The thing is he wouldn't be sat around doing nothing. If they let him just use the van they have given him 
Thanks 

sharpe106

Why is the van unreliable, breaks down ? unsafe?

LostAlice

sharpe106 said:

Why is the van unreliable, breaks down ? unsafe?

Hi, 
It's just old and got a lot of mileage on it, hubby isn't aware that it breaks down all the time 

sharpe106

He could say he is willing to use the van and if it does breakdown then he is willing to be furloughed from then.

Grumpy_chap

Maybe they are still a bit light on work and need to furlough someone this week, so with your husband's van off the road, why not him?

LostAlice

Thanks everyone 
His work are now going to sort things out for Monday, Hubby has agreed to take 2 days holiday and then they say they'll get another van sorted .
I think when hubby said it wasn't the right thing to do about the furlough they reconsidered.
So fingers crossed 
Appreciate your time