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Furloughed worker as of yesterday. I work for an Electrical contractors so a few folk have stayed on to keep estimating and contracts going as we still have a few tenders to submit and the sites were still open yesterday but not sure about from today onwards.
Pretty sure we're going to see a big dip in the workload coming out of this.. whenever that would be.. and we will most likely see a few in the bag projects we had lined up being shelved as clients might decide not to refurbish their fancy offices and just make do and hunker down. This will leave impending redundancy for many industries that were just about becoming boyent after the whole Brexit slow down.
I'm way too much of a pessimist to think that there will be much light at the end of this tunnel.
median income for the UK which is £30,353.
TJ would have you believe that’s well over the average.
I’m a finance bod for a construction co. Been running numbers for the boss today, I expect to be furloughed eventually. Very hard to have a cash flow discussion when I know how much cash the directors have pulled out, vanity purchases that have gone through the books: Director loans outstanding and they still want to put £200k into their SSAS before the end of the tax year.
So when do the payments from the gov actually go to the companies for the 80% ?
Looks like the self employed money does not become payable until June......
Who knows, the mechanism to report is yet to be decided. Probably around the time they get the IT solution to the Eire/NI border.
In the meantime, companies are to pay staff and their NI/PAYE as usual
Just repeating what I posted elsewhere, all our five sites are now furloughed, we’re guaranteed the 80%, our site boss is pushing for a 20% top-up, which maybe possible due to the money coming into the business from the storage of vehicles waiting to go for sale/auction.
I don’t think anyone is going to gripe about getting 80%, with our jobs safe, the extra 20% would be wonderful.
In the meantime, companies are to pay staff and their NI/PAYE as usual
And there lies the problem with all this. With sweet FA coming in, how will they do that, let alone top up wages
Might want watch Martin Lewis on ITV right now if you have questions
Currently furloughed for three weeks as of yesterday. Already seeing the 80% in our pay packet for this month ( the last few days of this month go into the March slip).
Was looking for a new job but that's on hold now.
Our company furloughed 200 mobile Fire/Security Engineers today, they are asking for volunteers from other areas of the business for Furlough/Redundancy/unpaid leave/etc.
I think i'll be OK for a couple of weeks as i'm a project manger who can work from home and i've got a backlog of months of documentation to do.
However i'm aware i'm just a number on a balance sheet so if the leadership decide to furlough the whole department i'll go with it.
Scary times, thankfully my wife is a teacher but we can't quite get by on one wage.
Email yesterday explaining the process - waiting to see what will happen
Were supposed to be furloughed by the 1st April. 80% from government and 75% of the remaining balance by the company. So about 95% overall pay, which accounting for the fuel i normally use will mean im better off, so happy with that.
I’ve also seen some pretty impressive inequity.Teams where one of the two doing the same job has to go. One member has got on and adapted to the WFH world well and is being very professional. The other appearing in meetings wearing pjs, going offline for periods without reason and basically not really working in any way you would describe as useful. Employer does not have the time or the means to performance manage the poor performer so they get to sit on their arse all day on full pay (company has made the decision to top up) whilst the one making the effort to save the company gets to keep on working and gets exactly to the penny the same reward for it. You’d like to think karma or bonus or something would make up the difference but it probably won’t.
Apologies if I've got the wrong end of the stick, but if the employer is 'topping up' from the 80% furlough pay, then neither of them should be working at all. That's the whole point - if they can work, whether physically present at work or at home, they shouldn't be furloughed.
Apologies if I’ve got the wrong end of the stick, but if the employer is ‘topping up’ from the 80% furlough pay, then neither of them should be working at all. That’s the whole point – if they can work, whether physically present at work or at home, they shouldn’t be furloughed.
Don't worry - you have the wrong end of the stick.
Two employees - one being retained working, the other furloughed. The employer chose to furlough the one who had proved in the first week to be useless at homeworking and kept the better, more professional employee working. Both will however still get paid exactly the same as the company chose (credit to them) to top up all furloughed staff as an organisation wide policy. The one still working is mildly peeved that their colleague gets to sit on their arse whilst they are still hard at it trying to save the company and therefore the jobs of both.
I wonder if eventually if this goes on for a while if companies will draw up a furlough rota if that's legit - group A work April whilst group B are furloughed then vice vera in May.
TJ would have you believe that’s well over the average
Depends if you do average earnings or average full-time.
I was furloughed on Tuesday. So in. 80% while the government puts it up.
Our outgoings will be a lot less with the curfew, so not too concerned in the short term. And no point stressing about what's going to happen after the outbreak- we've got to get through it first!
But filling my days with Joe Wicks, extending the swing so both kids can go on it now and pressure washed the front of the house. Garden will finally get the work it needs too.
I've got faith that my employer will do everything in his power to come back from this.
Just found out I'm furloughed. I work in the outdoor industry selling climbing equipment, but with almost all the shops shut, there's not much to do anyway.
Some good info on here for Employers, but still worth the read for anyone
Turns out I can’t be furloughed as I’m not an employee at the start of the furlough period
So I’ll get the last two days of my contract after all, then I start working, not furloughed, on 6th April as originally planned. And I get three days off in between, again as planned
Worst fears realised today. Wife was about to change jobs for pretty much the same salary. New employer gave her the heads up that, as we suspected, they wouldn't be able to furlough her.
Her current employer refused to let her withdrawal here notice so they won't furlough her. A lovely **** you after 14 years. She thought she was leaving on good terms. ****s!
Her current employer refused to let her withdrawal here notice so they won’t furlough her. A lovely * you after 14 years. She thought she was leaving on good terms. *!
Does she have any good relationships with people who are senior but not necessarily the decision maker? If you can get a few sympathetic ears and voices they may be able to influence, partially if it’s a smaller firm.
I say this as I know someone who’s done just that. Similar situation, big boss with no connection to her said no, he tapped up his line manager and the FD who he knew well and they sorted it for him.
Big boss didn’t know him and so had no loyalty to him, the others knew he was a good guy, had worked hard for the firm and so should be looked after.
It's head of department who's being a dick. Email just gone off to the CEO, after all, nothing to lose now.
Wife got furloughed today. She's a criminal defence solicitor so is also still classed as a key worker in the judiciary.
Quick question, how many of you on Furlough are being topped up to full pay by the company (the 20%). We're currently furlough plus top up for the first 3 weeks of furlough, looks like that might change and we're interested in what other firms are doing. Looking at the previous posts quite a few on Furlough maybe 30% currently topping up and possibly 10% to 20% have gone on full melt down and had to let people go.
Cash flow/profitability is obviously key but we don't want to let anyone go. Whilst many are appreciative of what we're currently doing we want to explain why we might have to drop to the 80% and explain that we've already gone beyond many other companies (if that's genuinely the case).
Not furloughed, just a 50% pay cut.
The employees at my work that have been furloughed have the option of using holidays to top up their pay to 100%.
Quick question, how many of you on Furlough are being topped up to full pay by the company (the 20%).
Not furloughed yet though half the company are.
No top up. Small company whose only costs/outgoings are payroll and office costs. (and income is based on doing work, paid on completion, of which there is currently very little). It is quite clear that any money we get from the company now is money we would not get later.
Furloughed today. Frustrating as I received an open letter this week from the Secretary of State for Business thanking the construction industry for continuing to support the economy and urging us to carry on.
Plenty of operatives on site (being carefully managed to comply with distancing - has required a major review of method statements) but all the suppliers and merchants have shut down due to general confusion so no materials on site.
So we are shutting down projects such as a medical supplies distribution centre (mentioned on the news yesterday) only a month or so from completion, critical care homes which could be of use shortly, even port infrastructure to help border control post Brexit. FFS this is so frustrating, the Govt need to give clearer instruction on business strategy.
And personally it looks like the Govt will take back in tax 40% of the £2500 so things will be a bit tight here (assuming I've a job to go back to after all this). At least we're all fit and healthy, so counting some blessings.
I could furlough myself, but being a company director it wouldn't be worth much - less than I normally actually pay in tax each month.
Fortunately, after a week and a half without work, managed to pick up a few weeks more work
Cheers for the additional feedback, sounds like some of you have had it really tough.
The company that my wife worked for on the 28th February and still technically works for until next Thursday are refusing to furlough her beyond that date because she resigned. They're claiming that to furlough her goes against government guidelines on the furlough process. It's clear that they are wrong, they are actually acting contrary to the guidelines, but how do you win a battle like that?
I was furloughed on the 28th, no top up by my company. Which means I’m on half my salary, uncertain about a significant bonus due in June as well. Email fired off this afternoon to see if I can ‘Furlough’ the use of my company car to try and save some money...it’s not been used since I was furloughed. I know i won’t get sympathy, nor am I looking for it (remember some of the disdain shown here for higher rate earners) but with a mortgage, financial commitments and 2 kids to support I’m panicking. I have savings but feel absolutely deserted by my employers.
for me it’s the uncertainty of the whole situation that causes anxiety. So many questions around tax, pensions, company car contributions etc. I just don’t know what I’m going to take home over the next few months. Which makes budgeting difficult.
Ultimately i guess I should be thankful my family are currently all healthy
@russyh I hope it works out OK for you, the banks are apparently getting sorted with mortgage holidays which might help you? I spoke to HSBC last week (about something else) and they said they were just waiting on guidance before they started offering them.
My (large) company has just started furloughing people, they’ll be on full pay at least for now, obviously that could change. My mate in the same job, different company is now on full topped up pay too.
Thanks, Barclays have accepted our mortgage holiday application which is a god send. Plus I’m told I can Furlough my company car which will save significant money. Its all happening so fast, hence why I’m a little disappointed my employers have not at least topped up people’s salary for April. I’m fortunate to have enough savings and borrowing capacity to keep going to some time. We have sat down as a family and looked at our expenditure and how we can cut costs. I will say that being locked down has meant our day to day put goings have all but disappeared! Food costs have obviously gone up, but we are not driving any where so no fuel, no Starbucks each morning or M&S sandwiches each day! Soon adds up. I’m lucky in that we have not over committed to borrowing compared to peers. So we as a family can keep operating frugally. But come pay day it will be a shock, as I still have not had it confirmed by HR or payroll how I will be taxed! What my deductions will be...etc. Like I say I don’t expect sympathy, just genuinely worried.
Russyh have you got a log on to HMRC? Might be worth updating your co car info there to get a new tax code asap and lower your tax bill.
I thought it was 80% of salary based on February 2020 earnings?
There's options for those that gain to either average annual earnings or earnings for the same month last year. I'm fortunate that my wage won't trouble the maximum limit so I get 80% of earnings (yay a pro-cyclist at 57) but no top-up as cash flow will not permit this without breaking the company.
I had a laugh about the CFO (up there) not understanding the difference between average and median.
Those of you with wage bills to pay it is possible to run payroll, inform HMRC of the amount and then pay the wages. Which should help with your cash flow, Mrs Sandwich does taxes for a living and they are training up to help out when the system goes live. If you are a smaller business with a rates rebate equivalent to the rates your council should have been in touch with an offer of a grant (£10k to £25k depending on circumstances which should also help with rent due). Good luck.
The employees at my work that have been furloughed have the option of using holidays to top up their pay to 100%.
Was the working time directive suspended for all in the emergency legislation? It would fall fowl of that
I had a laugh about the CFO (up there) not understanding the difference between average and median.
It's an easy one when the government announces it will pay the UK median - well just above if the news paper articles are to be believed. It's not the median or average the the figure that governs the amount it's the basic rate band width. It just happens that the basic rate band is close to the average wage. Personal allowance and basic rate are the same for 19/20 and 20/21.
Get my first Furlough pay tomorrow, it'll be part normal pay and part Furlough so no idea of how much it will be, my wife is still working (albeit part-time) so should be ok for this month. I'm a high rate tax payer so will be capped at the £2500 limit. I've a company car so am I interested in the previous poster who managed to get his company car added to the Furlough scheme but can't see how that would be allowed if you are already at the max Furlough amount, can someone help explain this?
I think its more a case of you give up your access to the car while furloughed, thereby its not a benefit so will reduce your tax bill. If you have access to the HMRC via self assessment, see if you can make the change there. It will then update your tax code which feeds into the payroll.
Only snag could be what stance HMRC will take if the cars parked at your home- could be treated as "been mad available" to you.
Construction industry here as well. Furloughed from last night.
Company is being very good as they are giving full pay until the end of May. Not sure how long the cash will last as there will be 4-5000 colleagues on furlough.
From a business point of view Covid 19 couldn’t of happened at a worse time -June year end c. 25% of our annual revenue.
Also worried for all the subcontractors and suppliers.
I think its more a case of you give up your access to the car while furloughed, thereby its not a benefit so will reduce your tax bill.
I would expect you to have to pay for it directly or have the taxable value added to your payslip to reduce the 2500 from the government, or of course, not use it at all.
Furloughed employees where I work are locked out of the building and access to the computer systems (with the exception of email).
This is starting at our company. Anyone got any reports of how much this is expected to cost the government? It seems like a lot of companies are jumping on it and taking advantage. Mine for example is a profitable company that could easily soak up the cost of paying employees for a couple of months with no income, but the money is on offer from the government and they are taking it.
AS above, the construction industry doesn't do recession very well. about 80% of our staff are furloughed now, with a couple of jobs (network critical for some power companies)still working. all managers still working been asked to take a 30% paycut to keep the company viable. tough times, and this will not go away quickly once the virus leaves our shores. I expect another 5-10 years of heartache.
Regarding company cars if you are not using them then the usual best practice is to send them back to company head office or compound etc. so they are not available for private use. There is some flexibility on this due to the need for essential travel only and the fact that many offices are closed. Industry best practice suggests that sending the keys back to the company should be done but this has all sorts of other problems if the car needs to be moved or alarms go off etc. I was able to park mine at the office mid March when I started self isolating.
It would be good to take a dated mileage picture when you surrender the car and another when it is used again although if it is in the pool someone else could potentially use it.
Use HMRC Govt Gateway to declare when the car was not available, they update very quickly. Car tax is calculated by day but it needs to be unavailable for more than 30 consecutive days to affect tax.
You will save tax and the company will save employers NI. The tax man loses.
This is starting at our company. Anyone got any reports of how much this is expected to cost the government? It seems like a lot of companies are jumping on it and taking advantage. Mine for example is a profitable company that could easily soak up the cost of paying employees for a couple of months with no income, but the money is on offer from the government and they are taking it.
I don't think anyone knows the cost yet. But yes, that's certainly happening, never underestimate peoples greed though. I know of 2 employers who sacked, not made redundant, just sacked large parts of their workforce hours after we were first told to social distance 3 weeks ago. Thankfully they reversed it and furloughed them instead. Having enough money in the bank to cover their salary for x months wasn't even a consideration.
Ultimately it's not a 'good' thing, but it's the least worst option at the moment. IF we can 'flatten the curve' enough to loosen regs within the 3 month period then the economy won't collapse, it's *just* a 3 month global pause. Pre-Furlough rules it was expected unemployment would rise by 1.5m in the next few months at least resulting in an 8% unemployment rate which has a terrible knock-on for the economy as a whole.
Now it should be much lower, and there's a chance once lock-down lifts things will return a lot closer to the way they were than they could have been. There will obviously be a huge drop in GDP this quarter and if that bridges two quarters there will as obviously be a recession, probably a record drop, but that's not to say it's a complete disaster, GDP hasn't fallen because of some massive financial scandal, it's fallen because we closed all the shops, factories, offices etc GDP is a measure of Domestic Product, or Output in other words.
The cost will no doubt be staggering, maybe as big as during the credit crunch, but there's probably a lot of people all trying to work out how to make it disappear - money is just a human construct and C19 has affected the world pretty equally. It doesn't have to be the end of days.
If you want to know what the alternative looks like look at the US. Trump gambled stupidly on trying to keep trading through it giving them a huge financial advantage over the rest of the world, he gave them all about 2 weeks wages and told them to fend for themselves. Their unemployment increase is staggering, I mean mindbogglingly staggeringly massive.
Trumps leadership has been as shockingly bad as Boris's shocking ability to suddenly be mostly competent, first he said it was a Hoax, then he spent all his energy on blaming the Chinese for it, to avoid it sticking to him, sadly their economy is going to be battered and hundreds of thousands will die and he's still not really doing enough.
"This is starting at our company. Anyone got any reports of how much this is expected to cost the government? It seems like a lot of companies are jumping on it and taking advantage. Mine for example is a profitable company that could easily soak up the cost of paying employees for a couple of months with no income, but the money is on offer from the government and they are taking it."
Can't say I have an enormous problem with this. Who knows how long this could go on for? The scheme is intended to keep employees on the payroll rather than making them redundant, to enable fast start of the economy when this is possible. I don't believe the majority already furloughed would have been retained, regardless of company profitability.