Shadow Chancellor has today called on the
government to urgently fix holes in the furlough scheme that have
left people forced to shield at home during coronavirus fearful
of losing their jobs.
The double-whammy of health and financial concerns could be
having an “unimaginable toll” on some of the most vulnerable,
says the Shadow Chancellor. The intervention comes as Citizens
Advice reveal they are seeing thousands of worrying cases.
Warning that current government plans will force people
into “an impossible choice between their livelihood or their
health”, the Shadow Chancellor unveils a three-point plan to
“shield those shielding” and calls on chancellor to adopt it before Wednesday’s
deadline for furloughing employees for health reasons.
Under current guidance, the latest date an employer can
furlough people on health grounds is Wednesday 10 June. After 30
June, employers will only be able to continue to furlough
employees who have previously been furloughed for at least three
weeks.
But these rigid deadlines fail to take into consideration
the fact that many people move in and out of shielded categories.
A new diagnosis of a serious illness after 10 June could leave
anyone unable to work from home having to choose between having
enough money to live on and their health.
Concerns about work for those in the shielded group do not
end there. The Shadow Chancellor also sounds the alarm that
people shielding could face greater financial hardship from
August, as the furlough scheme begins to wind down. This is
because:
· No
special provisions have been put in place for those shielding,
who cannot work safely outside their homes.
· Citizens
Advice report seeing thousands of cases where employers are
refusing to furlough employees who are shielding and unable to
work from home.
· Many
in this group fear their jobs will be the first to go as the
scheme starts to wind down.
Labour today lays out an urgent three-point plan government
should adopt this week in order to shield the shielding:
-
Exempt those shielding from the 10 June furlough
deadline
-
Exempt employers from having to increase their
contributions towards the salary cost of furloughed employees
who are shielding;
-
Give shielding employees a right to be furloughed by
their employer if they can’t work from home, so they no longer
face the impossible choice between having enough money to live
on or protecting their health.
, Labour’s Shadow
Chancellor, said:
“The physical, emotional and mental toll on those who have
had to shield for health reasons over the last ten weeks will
have been huge. To face imminent worries about their work
situation on top of this is unimaginable.
“The government must now shield those shielding by fixing
the holes in the furlough scheme that put thousands of jobs at
risk.
“The three-point plan we are setting out today would
provide support and certainty at this difficult time.
“Failure to act before Wednesday’s furlough cliff-edge
could force many of the most vulnerable into an impossible choice
between their livelihood or their health.”
Ends
Notes to editors
