Furloughed Dundee workers haven’t been paid for three months

HMRC failures mean Dundee workers are struggling to pay rent and living off savings following three months without pay.

Carmeleon Preparation Centre, on Faraday Street, was accepted on to the UK Government’s furlough scheme in March but say payments suddenly stopped a month later.

The car repair company has been in a daily battle with HM Revenue and Customs ever since but the issue means around five staff employed at the centre have not been paid since the end of April.

One staff member, who wished to remain anonymous, said the last three months have been “horrible”.

They continued: “The landlord is on the phone every day asking for payments.

“I’m lucky that my partner is still working but I know others living alone that really need help.

“We’re technically still employed even though we’re not getting paid, so we can’t even claim Universal Credit.”

Dundee West SNP MP Stewart Hosie has been investigating the issues and said he expected a resolution by yesterday. However, Carmeleon director Simon Creamer said the government body had previously promised a solution in June that didn’t materialise.

Mr Creamer said the situation has been stressful.

He said: “Nothing would delight me more than to get the furlough payments through and for everyone to get their wages. It has been a shambles.

“We have done everything we can. We have gone to everyone for help. We have tried to give answers to staff but we don’t have answers ourselves.

“I understand we are not the only business this has happened to.”

He added Carmeleon is due an estimated £50,000 from HMRC and some staff have returned to work in recent weeks.

HMRC said it will not comment on “identifiable taxpayers”, due to strict legal rules on confidentiality.

A spokesperson said: “If an employer believes there have been mistakes or unreasonable delays with their application caused by HMRC they should follow our complaints process which can be found on gov.uk”