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DAD-of-two Stephen Fletcher begged his former boss to furlough him when his new job fell through – and now he can’t afford to pay for bills or food for his family.
The 49-year-old ATM engineer left his job on March 27 and was due to start his new job on April 6 – but as the UK was plunged into lockdown with non-essential businesses closing he was told by his new employer that his job offer had been cancelled.
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The Hartlepool-based dad immediately called his former boss to see if his old job was still available, but was told it was not – leaving him cash-strapped and desperate for work.
His wife Joanne has also been furloughed from her job as a retail sales manager and says they are having sleepless nights worrying about how they will support their two young children, Harry, 8, and Lewis, 12, and are quickly running out of cash.
‘We don’t know what we’ll do’
Joanne, 44, said: “We contacted his old employer, practically begging them to furlough Stephen but they just said it’s not in their company policy – even though it would come at no cost to them at all.
“He’s the main provider for our family, we have two kids to feed and my wage doesn’t cover the bills.
“We’ve both worked all our lives and we’re now in this situation where we just don’t know what to do.”
It comes as thousands of workers across the UK are struggling to pay bills after being forgotten due to a furlough loophole leaving new starters in the lurch.
Stephen received his final pay cheque in March, and then a wage slip for £29 in April – and has been desperately applying for “every and any job” he can find since then.
What is furlough?
THE aim of the government’s job retention scheme is to save one million workers from becoming unemployed due to the lockdown.
Under the scheme, the government will pay 80 per cent – up to £2,500 a month – of wages of an employee who can’t work because of the impact of coronavirus.
Workers will be kept on the payroll rather than being laid off.
The government will pay the associated employer national insurance contributions and minimum automatic enrolment employer pension contributions on top.
The scheme has been extended to run until the end of June and can be backdated to March 1 2020.
It’s available to all employees that started a PAYE payroll scheme on or before March 1, 2020.
If you’re between jobs, have started at a new place of work or were made redundant after this date then you can ask your former employer to rehire you to be eligible for the scheme.
Employers can choose to top up furloughed workers’ salaries by the remaining 20 per cent but they don’t have to.
Firms who want to access the scheme will need to speak to their employees before putting them on furlough.
While on furlough, staff should not undertake any work for their employer during the scheme.
“Stephen is applying for everything and anything just to keep us afloat,” Joanne said. “He’s not the kind of person to think ‘oh, I’m an engineer that’s all I can do’, he’d do anything to feed our kids.
“He’s applied for jobs at Network Rail, as a delivery driver – anything he can find, but nobody is getting back to him.”
Joanne said the family have been forced to apply for benefits for the first time in their lives – and they are now surviving off Universal Credit and Job Seekers Allowance payments of a few hundred pounds a month until Stephen finds work.
“Obviously anything is a bonus and we are saving a bit on petrol, but we still have the worry of the mortgage and bills over our heads in the future.
“I never used to wake up in the night, now I’m still looking at the clock at 1.30am worrying about how to pay for food, electric and gas and feeling really stressed.”
Stephen is one of thousands of workers across the UK being denied furlough – and many have come together to campaign in a Facebook group with more than 9,000 members, New Starter Justice.
Many of those in the group moved jobs between the end of February and middle of March but were yet to receive a pay cheque from their new employer, meaning they are not eligible for the scheme.
The Treasury recently extended the scheme to include those who were on the payroll on March 19 2020 to help new starters – an extra three weeks on the previous February 28 2020 deadline.
But many are still ineligible as employees must be on a PAYE Real Time Information (RTI) payroll submission on March 19 – not just on the payroll.
An RTI is sent from employers to HMRC, typically on payday – meaning workers who are paid monthly and were yet to receive their first pay cheque are excluded from being furloughed. Estimates suggest this could be as many as 100,000 workers.
What support is available?
The government has announced a support package for businesses and individuals across the UK unable to work because of coronavirus. This includes:
Statutory sick pay:
If you are sick with coronavirus and unable to work you will receive statutory sick pay from day one, rather than the fourth day of illness. This applies retrospectively from March 13 2020.
You may also be eligible for SSP if you are self-isolating because you or someone in your household is displaying symptoms of coronavirus and unable to work as a result.
If you are a gig worker and/or on a zero hours contract, you may be entitled to sick pay – and in some cases people can apply for Universal Credit and statutory sick pay at the same time.
For more information check your eligibility on the government website.
Universal Credit, Jobseeker’s Allowance, Employment and Support Allowance:
The government has a range of benefits available for people who have lost their jobs or are working reduced hours because of coronavirus.
You may be able to apply for Universal Credit, New Style Jobseeker’s Allowance (New Style JSA), New Style Employment and Support Allowance (New Style ESA) and Employment and Support Allowance (ESA).
For more information on eligibility check the government’s website.
Self-employment income support scheme
The self-employment income support scheme will support self-employed individuals whose income has been hit by coronavirus.
The scheme will provide a grant worth 80 per cent of their profits up to a cap of £2,500 per month. You can read more about eligibility on the government website here.
‘I don’t understand why they won’t rehire me’
Penny Sweeny, 52, was due to start a new job on April 7 – but received a call from her new employer on March 24, the day after lockdown was announced to say her offer had been rescinded.
Penny was still working her notice period with her previous employer, where she had been working as a new homes consultant for three and a half years when she was told her new job was no longer available – despite this, she was still refused furlough.
Penny said: “I asked if they would let me retract my resignation just for the coronavirus period so they could enter me into the furlough scheme – making it clear I wasn’t expecting my job back – and they refused point blank.”
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Penny’s husband Michael, 55, is a self-employed painter and decorator who has been unable to work since the beginning of lockdown and will not receive the government SEISS grant until June – leaving the family desperate for cash in the meantime.
Penny said: “I don’t understand why they won’t rehire and furlough me, it comes at no cost to them. I’m not asking for the job back, I don’t want holiday or sick pay or a wage – it’s literally just so I can get put through the government scheme, but they won’t for whatever reason.”
Penny says the stress of how she and her husband will survive and feed their 15-year-old son, Kieran, has left her feeling “incredibly low”.
“We lost all of our income practically overnight,” Penny says. “I was moving jobs to try and better myself and move on, and down to the luck of the gods I’m now in this desperate situation with no help until June.”
Thankfully Penny’s landlord has given them a temporary break on their £780 per month rent until they can afford to pay – but she says they will have to pay the missed rent back in instalments over the next year, putting pressure on the family’s finances for the foreseeable future.
Even workers who did manage to move jobs before being put on unpaid leave are still unable to claim furlough pay.
‘It’s wrong of the government to ask someone to go back to an ex-employer’
Kayley Williams, 31, worked at Boots Opticians for nine years but left for her “dream job” as a social media and website manager for a local boutique at the beginning of March.
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The Swansea-based worker left her previous role on March 7 and began her new job on March 9, only to be put on unpaid leave a few weeks later after the government announced a nationwide lockdown.
As Kayley left her role at an opticians at the beginning of March and is paid monthly in her new role, her new employer is unable to claim furlough pay for her and she has been forced to ask her previous employer to rehire her for the purpose of furlough.
Despite leaving on good terms and working for the firm for nine years, the opticians refused to claim furlough for Kayley – leaving her with no income for the foreseeable future.
Kayley has been battling both her former employer and the government to receive the help she’s entitled to for weeks, and says she has been left feeling incredibly frustrated and let down after coming to dead end after dead end.
“I’ve been a PAYE earner since I was 16,” she says. “If I log into my HMRC portal, I can see that I’ve been in full-time employment for that entire period.
“So if HMRC are aware of that, why can’t they either let my new employer accept the responsibility and apply on my behalf, or allow me to apply myself?”
Kayley says the burden of blame has been a “ping pong” between her former employer, who are refusing to help, and the government – who are forcing people to beg employers who are no longer responsible for help.
“It’s wrong of the government to ask someone to go back to an ex-employer.
“When you leave you close that door, and it can be very difficult going back and asking for help,” she says.
“Why would they want to help out an ex-employee they are no longer responsible for? They don’t want that responsibility.”
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The government says more than 200,000 people were helped by moving the date from February 28 to March 19, but Kayley argues it only benefits those receiving weekly or fortnightly pay – and not monthly earners like herself.
“I can only think of a handful of jobs that are paid weekly or fortnightly, so there must be so many people out there struggling like me,” she argues.
Kayley says she has been forced to use savings she and her husband received as wedding gifts to survive, and is concerned this cashpot will run out within a month or two.
“I’m not able to claim Universal Credit as I have some savings,” she explains.
“It’s enough to last me a couple of months on unpaid leave, but after that it will be gone – I’ll have no money, no savings and only then can I apply for some government help.
“I can’t work – but the bills don’t stop, the mortgage doesn’t stop and I still need food.”
A government spokesperson from HMRC said: “Our coronavirus job retention scheme is protecting thousands of jobs up and down the country, and has seen around half a million employers apply for help to pay the wages of more than six million furloughed jobs.
“By extending the scheme from February 28 to March 19, we have provided support for thousands of extra people, whilst keeping the significant fraud risks under control.”
Here’s what you need to know about when the furlough scheme could end in the UK.
And it’s good to know your furlough rights.
Changes to the scheme could affect you – here are the details.
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