Furlough Pay - Which firms are/will be paying?

carryfast-yeti:

the maoster:
So, anyone getting paid then?

yes,we’ve all been paid for our 7 weeks on furlough :smiley: @ 30 drivers,plus the warehouse staff. all back at work full time this week …but i’m booked off on holiday :slight_smile:

Well the only agency drivers I personally know are the ones who work with me and it seems that the PAYE variety have been furloughed since day one and have been receiving 80% pay. The Lts Co ones have not, hence they are in doing the odd shift here and there to attempt to earn at least some money. I’ve been turning down overtime shifts to try and help these lads out.

The full time guys at our place who were furloughed for health reasons are still off on 80% pay, but here’s the kicker (prepare yourself for a swear word) the union have negotiated that the Co make up their wages to average pay, similar to if they were on holiday. Yes it ■■■■■■ me off a bit that they’re earning the same as me who’s still doing 60 hours per week, but I DO NOT want that taken away from them. I just accept that that’s the way the cards fell and I hold no animosity towards them.

Yes, been getting paid 80% since 19th March, my gaffer paid it out and then got it back from HMRC when the scheme started, we are 6 drivers at the small company, but the work dramatically fell away so three of us were put on furlough and two kept in work and one was paid off at the start, but the boss took him back on so he could be furloughed on pay, I’m going back tomorrow because things are starting to pick up, don’t know what the future will bring, but at least I’ve got a decent gaffer, I think.

the maoster:
So, anyone getting paid then?

Yep , about 20 of us , looks like I could be back on 1st of June as haulage is picking up but not enough for boss to waste 4 weeks road tax for the sake of 4 days

carryfast-yeti:

the maoster:
So, anyone getting paid then?

yes,we’ve all been paid for our 7 weeks on furlough :smiley: @ 30 drivers,plus the warehouse staff. all back at work full time this week …but i’m booked off on holiday :slight_smile:

Yes, it’s nice to get treated fairly and squarely. Sounds like a decent firm to work for…

Not all firms are going to jump at the chance to get rid of their “undesirables” the day before they would have qualified for six months pay @ the maximum £2500 per month on 80%…

When the yard has completely shut down of course, there’s going to be jobs for all 30 of you to go back to.

…Other firms might have used this opportunities to turn over their entire staff base however…

Strangely, there are still loads of C2 agency jobs about - go figure! :open_mouth:

the maoster:

carryfast-yeti:

the maoster:
So, anyone getting paid then?

yes,we’ve all been paid for our 7 weeks on furlough :smiley: @ 30 drivers,plus the warehouse staff. all back at work full time this week …but i’m booked off on holiday :slight_smile:

Well the only agency drivers I personally know are the ones who work with me and it seems that the PAYE variety have been furloughed since day one and have been receiving 80% pay. The Lts Co ones have not, hence they are in doing the odd shift here and there to attempt to earn at least some money. I’ve been turning down overtime shifts to try and help these lads out.

The full time guys at our place who were furloughed for health reasons are still off on 80% pay, but here’s the kicker (prepare yourself for a swear word) the union have negotiated that the Co make up their wages to average pay, similar to if they were on holiday. Yes it ■■■■■■ me off a bit that they’re earning the same as me who’s still doing 60 hours per week, but I DO NOT want that taken away from them. I just accept that that’s the way the cards fell and I hold no animosity towards them.

It is a shame the firm couldn’t have rolled that out 100% rather than pick and choose… Can’t you all see where I was coming from here, being PAYE 50 hours for a full year beforehand - only to be let down on the eve of getting 2-2.5k per month on furlough like your other colleagues? They’ve acted to make me 8-10k poorer when they could have send me into another depot in exhchange for receicing my 80%… There was room for negotiation here, if the firm wanted any kind of “pound of flesh” out of me - but they’ve just dealt with me, and others (I presume I’m not alone) badly to save themselves a bit of paperwork, rather than any actual hard cash, the way I see it… Maybe the firm told the agency to treat me thus, and the agency then did the lying by refusing to pass that utter contemptuous intent onto me as they might have done, if they were honest about it… At the end of the day, it would have been the agency who applied for the grant to cover all stood-down drivers, of which I presumably count as one because I’m still on their books, still stood down on paper in effect. I was only ever after what I thought I was entitled to here, not an effective sacking leaving me with no income AND no information at a time when a lot of us are going to be tightening our belts… They might as well have pulled me into a dark alley and stabbed me… :frowning: Did I really deserve that for being “unpopular” all by myself, or was I in fact “not alone” here, and a whole bunch of us got ritually ripped-off, whilst someone somewhere might have been tempted into taking advantage of “absent taxman” to push a few bits of “free money applications” at Gov.Uk as well of course… ?

blue estate:

the maoster:
So, anyone getting paid then?

Yep , about 20 of us , looks like I could be back on 1st of June as haulage is picking up but not enough for boss to waste 4 weeks road tax for the sake of 4 days

good news,blue! :smiley:

blue estate:

the maoster:
So, anyone getting paid then?

Yep , about 20 of us , looks like I could be back on 1st of June as haulage is picking up but not enough for boss to waste 4 weeks road tax for the sake of 4 days

That must have involved a lot of admin to de-tax vehicles, sit at home for just one complete month of no tax … Makes perfect sense to hang on until June 1st, simply to save a bit of cash, albeit with the extra paperwork…

Perhaps the gulf between “small yards employing 5-50 drivers” have lucked up with all this, compared to agencies with 50-500 drivers on their books, where “some had to be got rid of”, simply because there’s not enough work for them all normally, let alone during lock-down…

Trying to put myself in agency’s shoes now - if they could have come up with 20-40% of my old hours at a different venue, then they might have been able to pay the 80% furlough pay based on my average LAST year’s earnings for the remainder… But alas, I enquired at the suggested venue, only to be told I’d not only have to do an assesment to get in there (when I’ve already been inducted) but also wouldn’t be able to get the 20-40% work there - because they in fact, didn’t have hardly any shifts to do neither! Bugger all these wild goose chases doing the same unpaid hoop-jumping for a different agency each time!

If I’d taken it up, I’d STILL have lost 10 days at least sitting at home, and perhaps would still be doing that, rather than getting out, making calls and knocking on doors…
The interesting bit from here on is going to be if “outgoing client” wants to treat me badly “ongoingly” as well? It’s enough to drive someone underground, but to then go out of one’s way to ■■■■ on their proverbial grave as well?
… “I woudn’t put it past the jobsworth’s” - put it THAT way!

the maoster:

carryfast-yeti:

the maoster:
So, anyone getting paid then?

yes,we’ve all been paid for our 7 weeks on furlough :smiley: @ 30 drivers,plus the warehouse staff. all back at work full time this week …but i’m booked off on holiday :slight_smile:

Well the only agency drivers I personally know are the ones who work with me and it seems that the PAYE variety have been furloughed since day one and have been receiving 80% pay. The Lts Co ones have not, hence they are in doing the odd shift here and there to attempt to earn at least some money. I’ve been turning down overtime shifts to try and help these lads out.

The full time guys at our place who were furloughed for health reasons are still off on 80% pay, but here’s the kicker (prepare yourself for a swear word) the union have negotiated that the Co make up their wages to average pay, similar to if they were on holiday. Yes it ■■■■■■ me off a bit that they’re earning the same as me who’s still doing 60 hours per week, but I DO NOT want that taken away from them. I just accept that that’s the way the cards fell and I hold no animosity towards them.

Same here, those off are getting their full salaries, no prizes for guessing a proper unionised job like yours.
We have regular agency lads, all as far as i know are self employed, my lot have done their best to keep them with at least some regular wor, those with foresight could see the way things were going over the last few years, several of them applying for and getting full time positions here and now very glad they did.

Winseer:
It is a shame the firm couldn’t have rolled that out 100% rather than pick and choose…

The firm did roll that out 100%, for their own employees.You are seeming to fail to recognise that the agency are merely a supplier to the company. Why on earth would the company concern themselves with that particular supplier any more than they would for example their fuel supplier, their parts supplier, their electricity supplier?

One of our Ltd Co drivers was crying to me about it last week. I pointed out to him that he’s been agency there doing six five six five for 15 years and has had numerous opportunities to take the company shilling or at least go PAYE with the agency. Hi response was “what, and get stung for tax?” My response being “if by stung do you mean pay the same tax as everyone else?” I’ve worked Ltd before, I’ve fiddled the tax of course. Difference being I saw the writing on the wall a long time ago and changed to PAYE. It’s not as if people didn’t receive enough warning is it?

I recieved my…

Monthly pay slip from the agency this morning and I’m recieving the full 80% on Friday.

By coincidence, the agency informed us about six weeks ago that we were getting a mahoosive (I’m guesstimating over 15%) payrise on our basic rates which at last, puts me over the £12ph mark. The OT rates are increased too but by a lesser amount.

Whether or not these rates will still apply after this mess is over is anyone’s guess but, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was held back a year now.

I’ve worked through it all. Sat down with my boss at the start and worked out i could cover my overheads on 2 days wages a week if i had to.
Had one week with 1 day in and one week with 3 days in. All the rest have been 2 day weeks.
Kept the company ticking over and my head above water. Same for 3 other lads who were in same boat.
Hopefully pick up soon and start getting back to normal.
As soon as tests restart and the training company comes back to work I’m in for my class 1.

Meanwhile the rest are getting the equivalent of 4 days wages for sitting on their backsides.

My lot seem to have a dilemma the client want the regular guys back, but the number of shifts given to them by the client are 1-2 adhoc shifts a day, and no way continuous enough for them to unfurlough the drivers they have on standby as they won’t receive enough income to match the furlough money. So they are giving the shifts to ltd Co guys

robroy:
Well I’ve got it, but I’ve just got one of those mundane full time drivers jobs…, the type that you have gloated over in the past on here telling us what an advantage it is working for an agency, doing the same work for more money. :bulb:

4 pages of your whinging and whining could have been avoided with an answer in one sentence…ie.
‘‘99.9% of agencies are wonkers who think nothing of their drivers’’. :bulb: :bulb: :bulb:

So that (combined with your obvious ‘Victim’’ issues) has been a bit of self realisation for you, and made you bitter, thus boring the [zb] arses off everyone on here, unfortunate to endure your ramblings…and presumably the few friends that you will have,.and all your ■■■■■■ off workmates you have mentioned.

Somebody call an ambulance or a [zb] hitman. :unamused:
(Harsh maybe, , but you evidently bring things on yourself. :bulb:)

This just about sums it up. I posted to him along the same lines as your fulltime/agency comment above. As usual it went straight over his head!

the maoster:

Winseer:
It is a shame the firm couldn’t have rolled that out 100% rather than pick and choose…

The firm did roll that out 100%, for their own employees.You are seeming to fail to recognise that the agency are merely a supplier to the company. Why on earth would the company concern themselves with that particular supplier any more than they would for example their fuel supplier, their parts supplier, their electricity supplier?

One of our Ltd Co drivers was crying to me about it last week. I pointed out to him that he’s been agency there doing six five six five for 15 years and has had numerous opportunities to take the company shilling or at least go PAYE with the agency. Hi response was “what, and get stung for tax?” My response being “if by stung do you mean pay the same tax as everyone else?” I’ve worked Ltd before, I’ve fiddled the tax of course. Difference being I saw the writing on the wall a long time ago and changed to PAYE. It’s not as if people didn’t receive enough warning is it?

Makes perfect sense - only that I am still PAYE on the books of agency. Shouldn’t we have all got it - or none of us?

“Picking and choosing who gets and who doesn’t” smacks of not merely unfairness, but the lies also meant putting my entire household to the financial sword…
Of course, if I had actually been sacked the day before furlough was due - the LEGAL way to run this scam in my mind - then they would have then had to come up with an actual written reason/accusations…
But that would involve “Paperwork” and “other grievances heard” putting some of their jobs on the line…
Can’t have that then - can we?, so let’s just sack him without telling him, so he can’t sue us - and then wait for him to mosey off somewhere else and moan…
“Did you not get Furlough Pay?” will be the next “Were you mis-sold PPI?” once lockdown is over, I reckon… All those hungry freelance Lawyers scrambling for some new work to do… :unamused:

All I ever wanted - was to be treated like the next bod along on the same contract as me, the same rights and protections… Nothing more, nothing less. I needed and expected to have my 80% of my average hours over the past year - met under the scheme. What is the point of putting in so many hours - if the rewards, rights, and protections are simply not there when the chips are down? I paid enough bloody PAYE taxes over the past year, so no one else ever went short because of me!

I was never Ltd btw. I was pseudo-PAYE Umbrella for a bit before I woke up, but that didn’t last longer than it took for the back tax bill to reach me neither.

tmcassett:

robroy:
Well I’ve got it, but I’ve just got one of those mundane full time drivers jobs…, the type that you have gloated over in the past on here telling us what an advantage it is working for an agency, doing the same work for more money. :bulb:

4 pages of your whinging and whining could have been avoided with an answer in one sentence…ie.
‘‘99.9% of agencies are wonkers who think nothing of their drivers’’. :bulb: :bulb: :bulb:

So that (combined with your obvious ‘Victim’’ issues) has been a bit of self realisation for you, and made you bitter, thus boring the [zb] arses off everyone on here, unfortunate to endure your ramblings…and presumably the few friends that you will have,.and all your ■■■■■■ off workmates you have mentioned.

Somebody call an ambulance or a [zb] hitman. :unamused:
(Harsh maybe, , but you evidently bring things on yourself. :bulb:)

"Hey, let’s punch him in the face… he’ll moan and moan and moan, but he gets less rights than the rest of us. We can use him for our whipping boy forever and ever, because we ALL don’t like him. We don’t give a ■■■■ if his rights (that we won’t give him) are trodden on. " Are not the Left supposed to uphold worker’s rights being trodden upon? Are not the Right supposed to support workers who have that strong work ethic where they put the hours in, and expect some return on that level of committment? Are not the Centerists supposed to keep everything on an even keel so nobody has any serious grievances to moan about?

This just about sums it up. I posted to him along the same lines as your fulltime/agency comment above. As usual it went straight over his head!

You’re ignoring me when I tell you I was flat-out working full time via PAYE agency before I got cut off at the knees… Gov.UK covers ZHC on this arrangement, don’t forget. As long as such workers are PAYE… That’s why the furlough amount is calculated on actual hours already worked, rather than “Projected hours for the following year as per contract”…
We’re not talking about “agency rights” here, as other agency full timers have seen those rights met.
We’re talking about me apparently being singled out for brutally bad treatment where my income goes from £35k to zero without even being told verbally for ten bloody days that “my job has gone”…!
…based on them “not liking me” don’t forget. That’s discrimination. If I’d been sacked for a written reason, e.g. committing an actual crime tested in court - then I wouldn’t have a case…

…And the issue of the furlough grant being put in for anywhere at the firm based on the number of drivers on their books “no longer getting work hours”.

What a great syphon of government funds THAT is, when an agency has far more people on zero hours actual even during normal times… Based on the previous years earnings though, there’s nothing to stop them claiming 80% of £2500 per month for me still being on their books, whilst passing none of that ON to me. Surely that grant is claimed for a job-lot of staff on books, not “individuals”?
Fraud, Theft, and False Accounting?? The DWP will be carrying out an investigation - unless the firms can bring down the government before the government brings down them, I suggest.

“Working whilst furloughed” - the fraud is claiming the money when the firm doesn’t need to, or hasn’t even really stood people down, merely transferred them to a different location to work out of whilst telling the government “they are at home”… The fraud is claiming the money for someone you would normally have sacked, but couldn’t be arsed to do the extra paperwork. The Theft is someone like me being sent to the poor house based on lies and deceit. The Theft is robbing the taxpayer of funds that would be better left with the taxpayer. The False Accounting is counting drivers towards any application for a grant that have already GONE. The False Accounting is making it look like “no one got sacked or laid off” on PAPER - because that was one of the conditions to GET a furlough grant - Right?

Abuse of the Furlough Scheme is real then.

People are apparently unconcerned about “being crucified” - because any government department that might launch an investigation - are furloughed themselves, so won’t get around to any meaningful actions against these fraudster wealthy firms (who didn’t need to claim anything…)

There’s even the aspect of Client Firms doing this via their agencies as “Proxies” - meaning that when the sky falls down, the agency (hopefully, from their point of view…) ends up taking the rap for any “naughty paperwork” let’s say…
Oh, and the DWP will probably take an interest, because where did THIS lot come from at a time when “no one is supposed to be being laid off” hmm?

There is clearly an imbalance between firms claiming furlough grants compared to the number of actual jobs being lost, where a grant then CANNOT be claimed.
Where did all these “Newbie Jobless” people come from? Did ALL their previously employing firms go bust, rather than apply for the furlough grant designed to act as a safety net for them??

All I can…

See is lots of squiggly lines now.

That’s it. No one is listening, because “I’m alright Jack” - I get it.

Over time, the general public will become as a mass - less concerned about “the wrong 'uns” ever getting into power, as they are being singled out and right-royally shafted using the “Divide and Conquer” principal.

If no one is concerned at injustices going on now that could be you next - then they won’t be concerned when such totalitarian control by larger firms in particular - finally turns this country into some kind of Corporate State where you don’t even GET a job in the FIRST place unless you go on bended knee and lickcock some… By that point, our MPs will be the next state of evolution of our “Jobsworth” acting Managers - but only of the large firms, enacting laws that allow them to bully and harass their smaller rivals until there are only big firms left in the world.

Another step towards the Orwellian Nightmare. :frowning:

Let it go. You are making me worried.You need to go have a word with your agency not us. Every post you are putting on here makes me think you need a break from driving you have too many issues. Chill and please for every ones sanity here no more thesis. Thank you.

Winseer:
All I ever wanted - was to be treated like the next bod along on the same contract as me, the same rights and protections… Nothing more, nothing less.

PMSL ! Are you taking the ■■■■ or are you really as dumb and deluded as your comment suggests? Please say the former.

You’re a AGENCY DRIVER. You have no rights. You have no contract. That’s what agency drivers are (with a small number of exceptions). If there’s work there, your face fits and they can’t get a Romanian to do it for peanuts then you’ll get the work. Your face doesn’t fit as you’ve ■■■■■■ off every client in your area from endlessly arguing with them and there’s virtually no work anyway, so you sit at home. Whinge and ■■■■■ about it all your want along with all your whining and wailing about ZHC and furlough money. You made the decision to do agency work : you’ve made your bed, now you’re going to lie in it. If you want rights and protections go get yourself a permie driving job. Oh wait, you can’t, can you, because no company in Kent will touch you with a 100ft pole because you’re a damned nuisance and more hassle than you’re worth.

Stop hijacking every single thread with your furlough crap. No-one cares. You had the same forewarning as everyone else what was coming down the economy tubes when the virus landed. You clearly chose to ignore it and blunder on regardless instead of making provisions to see you through it financially so no sympathy for you here that you have no money coming in and the agency has stitched you up. Your situation is entirely of your own making so please stfu about it.

R420:

Winseer:
All I ever wanted - was to be treated like the next bod along on the same contract as me, the same rights and protections… Nothing more, nothing less.

PMSL ! Are you taking the ■■■■ or are you really as dumb and deluded as your comment suggests? Please say the former.

You’re a AGENCY DRIVER. You have no rights. You have no contract. That’s what agency drivers are (with a small number of exceptions). If there’s work there, your face fits and they can’t get a Romanian to do it for peanuts then you’ll get the work. Your face doesn’t fit as you’ve ■■■■■■ off every client in your area from endlessly arguing with them and there’s virtually no work anyway, so you sit at home. Whinge and ■■■■■ about it all your want along with all your whining and wailing about ZHC and furlough money. You made the decision to do agency work : you’ve made your bed, now you’re going to lie in it. If you want rights and protections go get yourself a permie driving job. Oh wait, you can’t, can you, because no company in Kent will touch you with a 100ft pole because you’re a damned nuisance and more hassle than you’re worth.

Stop hijacking every single thread with your furlough crap. No-one cares. You had the same forewarning as everyone else what was coming down the economy tubes when the virus landed. You clearly chose to ignore it and blunder on regardless instead of making provisions to see you through it financially so no sympathy for you here that you have no money coming in and the agency has stitched you up. Your situation is entirely of your own making so please stfu about it.

Yep, pretty good summary.

Although in fairness to him and despite everything he writes I actually don’t think he’s that dumb per se, he just needs to get this chip off his shoulder that everything is one big conspiracy against him and this ridiculous notion that every company out there is on the fiddle regarding furlough.