Last furlough payment not received

dulynoted

Hi all!

I was furloughed at the end of March 2020. I am paid one month in arrears (I think that's the right term!) so in April 2020 I was paid for my March work, then in May 2020 I received my first furlough payment.

I received a letter this May from my employer saying furlough would end on the 31st of that month. Therefore, I expected to receive my last furlough payment in June 2021, to tide me by until I started being paid for shifts again in July. However, I received no pay in June whatsoever.

Am I due a furlough payment for June or since I wasn't furloughed at the time, do I get nothing? Should I raise the issue with payroll? I don't like to cause a fuss, so I was hoping someone who knows more about furlough and payroll than I do could advise. Thank you!

Jeremy535897

If you had received pay in April 2020 both for March 2020's work and furlough for April 2020, then you would expect no pay in June 2021, as your last furlough would have been paid in May 2021, and your wage for June 2021 would be paid in July 2021. But as you said your first furlough payment was in May 2020, then that seems to be paid one month in arrears too, so you should receive your furlough payment for May 2021 in June 2021. I would take this up with your payroll department.

dulynoted

Jeremy535897 said:

If you had received pay in April 2020 both for March 2020's work and furlough for April 2020, then you would expect no pay in June 2021, as your last furlough would have been paid in May 2021, and your wage for June 2021 would be paid in July 2021. But as you said your first furlough payment was in May 2020, then that seems to be paid one month in arrears too, so you should receive your furlough payment for May 2021 in June 2021. I would take this up with your payroll department.

Thank you Jeremy! You raise an excellent point I hadn't thought of in my panic. I double-checked and I definitely didn't receive any furlough money on top of my regular pay in April 2020, so I've contacted payroll to query. Thank you for the push in the right direction!

Jeremy535897

It might be worth checking you got no double payment in any later month, although I suspect that is unlikely.

TBagpuss

It's unlikely you would have been paid double at any point as the way furlough works is that the employer pays you, then they submit the details to HMRC and reclaim the furlough money, so they pay you up front then claw it back. They would not have been able to claim without showing that they'd paid you, and it seems unlikely that they would pay you extra out of pocket.

If there was a period when you were neither on furlough nor actually working then they need to identify what your status was  but I'd expect you still to be paid - e.g. if they were requiring you to use up accrued holiday you should get paid for the holiday, if you were available for work then they would normally need to pay you even if they told you not to come in.

If they were slow at the beginning and didn't make a furlough claim for April then the same would, I think, apply.
I'd suggest that you ask them to clarify and to confirm what period they say each of the payments made covers, then you can work out what the gap is. 

superbigal

As above but even blunter.  If your were not on Furlough from June 1st, and you have contracted hours then you should have been at work.  You should certainly be getting paid 100% of your contracted hours from that point.

Thrugelmir

Unusual to be paid an entire month in arrears. Are you sure that’s correct. 

Jeremy535897

This question was raised a number of times when furlough was first introduced. I remember because I answered those questions. It is apparently more common than you would think, although it was normally the case that one or more elements of pay (bonuses or commission) were paid in arrears, rather than the whole wage.