Is this allowed? - Furlough question??
Discussion
A number of my colleagues are from Poland, Rumania, Spain etc. They’ve been furloughed since March.
As soon as done they upped sticks back to wherever.
Still claiming and being paid furlough even though outside the country.
Living the dream in a sense.
They’ll return if and when asked in November.
Is this allowed? Is it a case of blame the system not the person or is it fraud?
The organisation have never commented on any requirement to be in the UK.
As soon as done they upped sticks back to wherever.
Still claiming and being paid furlough even though outside the country.
Living the dream in a sense.
They’ll return if and when asked in November.
Is this allowed? Is it a case of blame the system not the person or is it fraud?
The organisation have never commented on any requirement to be in the UK.
It’s no different to you deciding to go on an extended holiday somewhere. A furloughed employee is still employed and therefore entitled to the payments under the scheme. What they decide to do in terms of where they stay during that furlough is purely a matter for them. Where it becomes an issue is when you work for the employer whilst claiming furlough. You can work for another employer though so they could go back to Romania and work on a farm or whatever.
They're fully entitled to do it.
It's one of the many pitfalls of creating a system that just hands out money to everybody to massage the unemployment figures, rather than actually increasing unemployment benefits in line with what furlough offers and allowing the natural economic shock to play out as it would normally.
If I remember rightly the benefits system, which you'd normally use for unemployed people has protections against being abroad while on it.
It's one of the many pitfalls of creating a system that just hands out money to everybody to massage the unemployment figures, rather than actually increasing unemployment benefits in line with what furlough offers and allowing the natural economic shock to play out as it would normally.
If I remember rightly the benefits system, which you'd normally use for unemployed people has protections against being abroad while on it.
GreatGranny said:
OP, would you be asking the same question if furloughed British colleagues were abroad on holiday?
A friend of mine was furloughed in Spain.AFAIK, and based on a sample size of one, her conditions were that you couldn't leave the country, and when it was time to return they could give 24 hours notice. If you didn't turn up you were considered to have given your notice, unless you had good reason (such as being in hospital)
craigjm said:
It’s no different to you deciding to go on an extended holiday somewhere. A furloughed employee is still employed and therefore entitled to the payments under the scheme. What they decide to do in terms of where they stay during that furlough is purely a matter for them. Where it becomes an issue is when you work for the employer whilst claiming furlough. You can work for another employer though so they could go back to Romania and work on a farm or whatever.
So farmer A employs 10 FarmA workers and puts them on the furlough scheme whilst farmer B employs 10 FarmB workers also on the furlough scheme. FarmA workers (now called agricultural assistants) then go to work for farmer B whilst FarmB workers (now called agricultural assistants) go and work for farmer A. Yep, that all makes sense. Another example of the lunacy and chaos caused when laws are rushed through without proper scrutiny.
I think depends on the nature of the work and the agreement between the employer and employee. Its all very fluffy and will vary by role/employer.
Furlough can be terminated without any legal minimum period and the employee should be in a position they can return to work hence if you go on holiday and dont want calling back in, you should still be taking leave. If like in my case, the employer has told furloughed staff they will get 24 hours notice, the employee should ensure they can do this.
If the company calls the worker back from furlough and they get back in the agreed timescale there should be no employment issue, unless the employee should be subject to quarantine rules. If coming back to the UK to work from a county where quarantine should be enforced, the employee would have to decide whether they try go back to work and ignore quarantine but if the employer knows about their travel i would expect them to refuse.
From that point on its probably quite messy and employee could potentially find themselves in a rather sticky situation.
if you're not in this scenarios I'd not worry about it.
Furlough can be terminated without any legal minimum period and the employee should be in a position they can return to work hence if you go on holiday and dont want calling back in, you should still be taking leave. If like in my case, the employer has told furloughed staff they will get 24 hours notice, the employee should ensure they can do this.
If the company calls the worker back from furlough and they get back in the agreed timescale there should be no employment issue, unless the employee should be subject to quarantine rules. If coming back to the UK to work from a county where quarantine should be enforced, the employee would have to decide whether they try go back to work and ignore quarantine but if the employer knows about their travel i would expect them to refuse.
From that point on its probably quite messy and employee could potentially find themselves in a rather sticky situation.
if you're not in this scenarios I'd not worry about it.
What's the problem with them going back home?
Our furlough scheme stipulated you had to be ready to return with 24 hours notice.
If yours doesn't have that or, if it does, if they can get home in that time, it makes no difference.
There's no fraud and no problem with the system. There's no work, so they're temporarily furloughed - what they do during that time is irrelevant.
Our furlough scheme stipulated you had to be ready to return with 24 hours notice.
If yours doesn't have that or, if it does, if they can get home in that time, it makes no difference.
There's no fraud and no problem with the system. There's no work, so they're temporarily furloughed - what they do during that time is irrelevant.
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