New Year, new career, thought Alex, (like 18% of the 10.9% of UK job changers) and interviewed with us during January. He agreed to leave his existing employer after his notice period & started with us on 28th February. More pay, better working conditions, it was a promotion. 1/-
None of us could have predicted the impact of #COVID19 on our lives as we chased work & integrated Alex into our business and we didn't. Our main client, in the automotive industry, closed as @RishiSunak announced the #Furlough scheme to help us. OK, we wouldn't get a grant. 2/-
We run our business, covering the UK, efficiently, from home. But we did qualify to put Alex on furlough & we did so on 21st March with the correct paperwork. We made full payment to him on 28th March. My relief was intense because I had persuaded him to leave his employer. 3/-
Alex was able to tell his wife, who suffers from stress, that everything would be OK. We were able to provide the rest of our contractors with 2 weeks pay from our own reserves because they were not covered by any of the government schemes. Our business might survive. 4/-
Today we learn that @RishiSunak has changed the rules. In an announcement that pretended to extend the #furloughleave scheme to include all workers starting before 19/3, he neglected to mention they would need to be submitted to HMRC on an RTI (real time info) return by 19/3.
5/-
5/-
At a stroke, UK govt has removed all salaried workers from furlough who started work with first payment after 19th March. He effectively moved the start date backwards to 19th February. 1% of 30.5m UK workforce moves job each month. 75% are paid monthly. That's 228,750 people.6/-
I am sorry Alex, I gave you false reassurance based on what we were told by government. I should have known better. It doesn't help that there are at least another 228,749 people in the same position who will be hearing this news over the coming days.
End.
End.
