FURLOUGH WOE FOR DAD
Steven left without income due to a lock down loop hole
A Rutherglen dad has lost his livelihood just one week into a new job after he fell foul of a loophole in the Chancellor’s Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.
Steven Johnston, a refrigeration and air conditioning engineer with 12 years’ experience, was placed on furlough by his new employer, Bellshill-based ESG Technical Services. He assumed he’d be paid 80 per cent of his wages under the government scheme. However, Steven was gutted to learn that, despite his new employer’s best efforts, he’s not eligible because of a technicality over when he was first paid in his new post. Not only is he missing out on £2500 a month in lost wages, his partner, Charlene Espie, also lost her job as a social media manager when her retail and hairdressing clients were forced to shut shop due to the pandemic. The couple had ploughed their savings into the new home they moved into in Eastfield 10 months ago.
It was to be a new start for the couple, who were blessed with the arrival of baby Leo in January last year – 11 months after his sister, Francesca, tragically died during a complicated birth.
Now, for the first time since he was a young apprentice, Steven, 32, is having to apply for benefits to help make ends meet.
The dad started his new position on March 16 after applying through a recruitment agency.
But because ESG’s biggest customers are McDonalds and Wetherspoons, the work instantly dried when lockdown was enforced.
The cut-off date for the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme was March 19 and because his new employer submitted required payroll information to HMRC after that date, Steven wasn’t eligible for support through the scheme.
He’s among thousands of newstarts who are trapped between an employer who can’t put new recruits on furlough because of the payroll cut-off, and a previous
employer who is unable to re-hire them and place them on furlough so that they qualify for payments.
Rutherglen MP Margaret Ferrier has highlighted his case to Chancellor Rishi Sunak, urging him to take action to prevent people like him from “falling through the gaps.”
Steven was thrilled when he was offered his new job and he received a payroll number and enrolled in the firm’s pension scheme.
But as its clients’ restaurants and pubs were forced to close overnight, the company had no option but to shut up shop.
Gutted Steven explained: “My boss texted me on the Monday the scheme went live to say he was putting all my details into HMRC but unfortunately they had come back to say I couldn’t be furloughed because of the payroll cut-off.
“He tried to get his accountant and an employment lawyer on to it, but their hands were tied, pretty much the same as everyone else’s.”
Steven’s new boss said he’d be willing to do anything to help, including offering to send any paperwork that may be needed by his previous employer in the hope they’d be able to re-hire him and put him on furlough.
“I put my pride to the side and thought that 80 per cent of £2.5K (the monthly wage cap set by the government) would be better than nothing,” said Steven.
“But my old employer emailed me to say there were legal implications over taking me back and they were not prepared to do that. So, I have gone from earning a good wage to pretty much zero – and I don’t know when I will be earning again.”
Steven is one of 8900 people on a Facebook page who are in a similar situation and, as far as he’s aware, only two of them have been furloughed by previous employers.
Unlike some circumstances he’s read about on social media, Steven considers himself fortunate not to have been paid off.
“There are stories about people who have just had their contracts ripped up because companies are not willing to take a chance,” said Steven, whose partner starts a new job on Monday.
“There is a skills shortage in my line of work and since I started this, I have been out of work for three weeks in my whole 12-year career. But you just have to get on with it. There is not much else you can do.”
In her letter to the Chancellor, Ms Ferrier MP called for Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme to be extended to new starts like Steven.
Her letter reads: “It’s heartbreaking to hear stories from constituents who have worked all of their lives, only to find that they don’t qualify for the Chancellor’s Job Retention Scheme because of a technicality around when they were first paid in a new job.
“Too many people are still falling through the gaps in the Chancellor’s coronavirus support schemes, through no fault of their own.
“Our economic recovery from coronavirus depends on us leaving no-one behind during this challenging period, and we must do more to support people whose livelihoods are on the line.
“A Universal Basic Income would solve many of these problems, but at the very least the Chancellor must look at alternative forms of evidence, such as employment contracts, to ensure that the maximum number of people can benefit from the support available during the coronavirus pandemic.”
Steven added: “I have seen 150 people saying their MP has written to the Chancellor. How many letters does the Chancellor need before he actually replies?
“People are being left out. The scheme simply does not work for everyone.
All they are doing is coming up with all sorts of excuses.”