Furloughed - Company Activity

[d000hg]

Employees of course. Clients could be problematic. The minute you start talking about work it could fail the test. You could ring them, ask if everyone is safe and chat about your situation but making any kind of arrangements or chatting about the service is beyond a directors basic obligations I'd say.

Reasonable. I am curious about my wife's situation as a nursery manager. She is putting together resource packs for kids (currently enrolled and others in our village) to help the families. The families are not being charged while the nursery is shut and this is being done primarily to help the community, BUT you could say this is work and even argue it is advertising - which we'd quite happily agree is a side benefit - though it is not done for that purpose or generating any revenue. I would argue this sort of thing should be encouraged personally BUT if an employee were doing it it is clearly against the furlough rules.

Another example is a local church has furloughed their youth workers on 100% pay. This means they are not allowed to do volunteer work that is part of their normal job. So other people in the church are volunteering to do that instead because their work is if anything more valuable right now. Which seems rather contrary to the intent of the rules but understandable... many companies WOULD claim furlough grants then expect workers to 'volunteer' to do their regular jobs <cough Sports Direct>

[northernladuk]

Reasonable. I am curious about my wife's situation as a nursery manager. She is putting together resource packs for kids (currently enrolled and others in our village) to help the families. The families are not being charged while the nursery is shut and this is being done primarily to help the community, BUT you could say this is work and even argue it is advertising - which we'd quite happily agree is a side benefit - though it is not done for that purpose or generating any revenue. I would argue this sort of thing should be encouraged personally BUT if an employee were doing it it is clearly against the furlough rules.

In Martin Lewis's video he talks about being able to freelance away from the LTD. Sounds like it's just a recipe for piss take in most situations but is a perfect example for your wife. There is nothing wrong with her using her skills to create something and help people as long as it's away from the LTD which is exactly what she's doing. She isn't working from the nursery shes volunteering her time and knowledge for community so I think what she is doing is not only perfectly fine but quite admirable.

Another example is a local church has furloughed their youth workers on 100% pay. This means they are not allowed to do volunteer work that is part of their normal job. So other people in the church are volunteering to do that instead because their work is if anything more valuable right now. Which seems rather contrary to the intent of the rules but understandable... many companies WOULD claim furlough grants then expect workers to 'volunteer' to do their regular jobs <cough Sports Direct>

Again, I'd say this is fine. The workers can't carry out their duties due to coronavirus. They can't be made to do it and it can't be done safely so they are furloughed. If volunteers want to step in then that's a completely different thing. They are doing at their risk and can't be told to do it.
Isn't it kinda like hairdressers furloughing themselves so parents are having to cut the kids hair. The parents are volunteering to do what the hairdressers/can't won't?
Obviously none of the youth workers can come near the volunteering work. That's cutting it a bit fine in theory I'd say.