'Government must provide support for workers unfairly refused furlough'

The woman - Nicola - claims her financial distress has been ignored by the Government. Her case was cited by Tracy Brabin, the Labour MP for Batley and Spen in a Parliamentary debate. Ms Brabin said: “Nicola is 46 and a single mum of two girls in West Yorkshire. She is on a zero-hours contract with a publicly funded charity, working in the supported living sector and paid the minimum wage. “She asked to be furloughed but was told that she could not because her job was publicly funded, and was then told that there was enough work. “Her application for unemployment benefits was refused as she was still under contract and had received a wage. Nicola was not just excluded from support; she was refused support and had to live on child benefit, going deep into arrears.” Nicola, who is also a founding member of the Refused Furlough Support Group, told The Yorkshire Post she had numerous case studies of people on the PAYE system who were in the same position. Nicola, who lives near Ilkley, added: “The stress has been unimaginable and is still going on. The system is meant to protect you should the worst happen with your employment. The system did not work. We are very different to the self employed and business owners. "Our incomes literally were in someone else’s hands and many of us were earning less than £30,000 a year. We were ignored by our employers and then by the Government.” Nicola added: “The Government made the mistake of letting the employers decide as to whether to furlough employees or not. This was a huge error on their part as it left PAYE employees with no back up plan. "I would like the Government to set up a system where all employees who were refused can go to the HMRC and request what they would have been entitled to on the furlough scheme. "It’s relatively easy to roll out as all our figures are there. Fraud is not an issue and it would have been money the Government would have given back to employers anyway.” Nicola said the thought of losing her home due to her financial problems had damaged her health. She added: “Physically, I think I’ve aged 20 years.” Responding to concerns raised by Ms Brabin and other MPs, John Glen the Economic Secretary to the Treasury, said the Government had spent £280 billion on schemes including the job retention scheme, which protected 9.6 million jobs. Mr Glen said the Government had supported the self-employment income support scheme, which provided grants to 2.7 million people and affordable loans for businesses, “which we have adapted over time”. The Government has also provided extra help through the welfare system and bespoke interventions for different industries, such as the £1.57 billion for the creative industries. Other support has included income tax time-to-pay arrangements, payments to those asked to self-isolate and grants for businesses required to close, Mr Glen said. He added: “Our overriding goal has been to provide as much support as we can to people and businesses, and as rapidly as possible. We acknowledge that we have not been able to help everyone in the way that we would ideally want to, but that has not been a wilful disregard for their situation.” The Government has extended the cut-off point by which workers needed to be on their company’s payroll to be eligible to be furloughed, allowing more workers to receive payments, and this potentially includes freelancers paid through PAYE, said John Glen, Economic Secretary to the Treasury. Mr Glen told MPs: “It is very, very challenging for us to provide support for every single group that is struggling at this time, but I reiterate our willingness to continue to work with groups, including IPSE, the relevant APPG, the FSB and others, that bring forward proposals.”