What should I do if I think my employer is using furlough to cover notice periods re redundancy

Cathy_Bob

What should I do if I think my employer is using the furlough scheme to cover notice periods re redundancy?
I'm not (yet) asking for myself, but have a No of friends asking this question...
Are employers allowed to have furloughed people from say 1st April, then make them redundant and use the furlough pay to cover the notice period?
Surely, notice has to be given forwards (so, e.g. on 1st July + whatever notice period is in the contract) ?
And cannot be backdated to e.g. when notice of furlough was given (e.g. effective 1 April 2020) ?  

Grumpy_chap

Furlough cannot be used to cover the redundancy pay.
Furlough can be used to cover redundancy notice pay.
Yes, notice has to be in the future, not the past.

Thrugelmir

Notice period starts when it is given. 

Grumpy_chap

Normal contract of employment and redundancy rights still apply, for example redundancy consultation.

Cathy_Bob

Grumpy_chap said:

Furlough cannot be used to cover the redundancy pay.
Furlough can be used to cover redundancy notice pay.
Yes, notice has to be in the future, not the past.

Confused...
So, if e.g. employee is furloughed effective 1 April 2020
Then is given notice of redundancy e.g. 31 July 2020(contract has 3 months notice) so expires 31 Oct 2020
Is any part of the furlough pay from 1/4/2020 - 31/10/2020 allowed to be taken into account? 
Or does notice on 31 July 2020 then cover the 3 month period prior to that?
This is important as I think some employers are doing this sort of thing

Grumpy_chap

In that example, the notice period starts 31st July, so three months' notice is August, September, October.
Furlough pay before 31st July can not be taken into account as part of the notice pay.
Furlough pay from 1st August can be towards the notice pay.
Redundancy pay is on top.