According to a poll of 2,000 employees currently on the furlough scheme - carried out across the UK - over a third of them have been asked to undertake work by their bosses. This is in spite of the strict rules stating that employers are only entitled to claim money from the £60bn furlough scheme if staff cannot work during the pandemic. The job retention scheme is one of the biggest costs to the Treasury and any breaking of the rules is fraud.
The study - which was carried out by Crossland Employment Solicitors and surveyed staff from manufacturing, IT, marketing and PR companies - found that the comparison between large and small firms was fairly equal.
It showed that 34 per cent of employees were asked to return to work either to do their usual job or to take on administrative tasks - with a further 18 per cent saying they had been asked to work for another company linked to their employer and 19 per cent were asked to cover another person’s job, within their organisation.
Beverley Sunderland - Managing Director of Crossland Employment Solicitors - stated:
"Like any fraud, this is a serious offence and an exploitation of employees.
As it is fraud on the Treasury then an employer could be imposed with a hefty fine, asked to pay past payments back, have any future payments withheld or even potentially face prison.
Since the coronavirus job retention scheme was launched eight weeks ago, we've received an avalanche of calls to our office from worried employees, all unrelated to our own clients and many with the same story, 'I've been furloughed but my employer has asked me to keep working’.”
She added:
“This is fraud that is impacting many industries, job roles and seniority levels.”
Similar to Crossland Employment Solicitors poll, the charity Protect reported receiving more than 215 calls to its whistle blower advice line, regarding furlough abuse. This accounted for 54 per cent of coronavirus-related calls received, overall.
Andrew Pepper-Parsons - Head of Policy for Protect - remarked that many whistle blowers were concerned they could be held liable for working whilst furloughed.
He stated:
“It is the employer that is committing the fraud and it is the employer that should suffer the penalty, but we are hearing reports that some whistleblowers seeking advice are being told they will be liable to pay back money fraudulently claimed.”
He called upon the government to assure those employees that they would not be required to make repayment.
However, Stuart Price - Payroll Expert at MHR - said that changes to legislation had required employers to react quickly; meaning accidental abuse of the scheme was understandable in some instances.
He said:
"Traditionally, when you've got new legislation, you've got a year's lead time to prepare because the government has had time to give great detail. But because the rules can vary month to month, it has been difficult for businesses to keep up. You're being asked for information or checks where you might not even have needed that data before.”
