Furloughed then redundant, changed to Furloughed help

ELLYP

Hi,
I’m posting so I can pass the advice onto a friend. 

She was employed full time and put on Furlough at the beginning of all this. She was then made redundant. When  (I think) Furlough was extended she asked her employer if her redundancy could be put on hold and her furlough extended. The employer agreed and sent her a letter saying her Furlough would end at the end of March. She has been actively seeking work, but with no luck and has asked her employer if he could extend her Furlough until September, he has refused saying that he would not be able to advertise a new position if he carried on Furloughing her.  Is this right? 

She’s a single woman with a mortgage and is really worried about this. She’s never claimed benefits in her life and would rather find a job than have to claim UC.

samwilki

Furlough it as the discretion of the employer so they can take her off it as they like.
You might want to post on the redundancy board as there's something going on with the fact he wants to hire straight after making a role redundant.

GrumpyDil

1) How is your friend redundant if the employer needs to advertise after making her redundant.?
2) if the post is genuinely redundant (see 1)  then putting your friend on furlough sounds wrong anyway as furlough is designed to help employers retain employees not to delay redundancies. 

ELLYP

The new roll is different to the role she had. So I don’t believe advertising it will stop him being able to extend her furlough. Which is the main thing I want to know.
Furlough is designed to help people and using it to delay redundancy is allowed according to some gov info I’ve read today.

HopeAndDriftWood

I’m by no means an expert but I thought the government had changed the guidance allowing people who had been made redundant or who had handed in their notice from being able to get furlough last Summer. It was initially possible, but I’m pretty sure it was changed. 

Jeremy535897

If the business needs to fill other posts, why would it need to furlough her till September? Furlough is not available if the role is already redundant, because then she would not be furloughed due to coronavirus. As has been noted earlier, furlough is at the employer's discretion. Nor is it cost free to the employer.

HopeAndDriftWood

Ah it looks like I’m wrong, sorry. God knows where I got that idea from. 

This suggests it was still allowed in November, but was risky for employers; https://allanjanes.com/-Extended-Furlough-Rehiring-Redundant-Employees