Pressure mounts to expand furlough scheme as claims hit 1.3m

Michal Sidoryk, a 27-year-old call centre worker in Cardiff, said his employer told him he could not be furloughed because he had previously worked from home. He is unable to work from home due to building work so has had to take unpaid leave. He said: “I suffer from stress and anxiety and this has driven it through the roof.”

Employees are not the only ones facing additional stress. Company directors, like other employees, are banned from carrying out their usual duties, which puts some in a difficult position. 

Mr Morgan at the IoD said: “The Government has directed that a furloughed director can only file company accounts and provide other information relating to company administration, which is much narrower than the definition of directors’ duties in the Companies Act.”

Accountants said that while the online system for applications was working well, issues such as holiday pay have caused some confusion. Employees taking holiday must be paid 100pc of their wages, leaving employers on the hook for topping up the 80pc government wage subsidy. 

Heather Self, a partner at accountant Blick Rothenberg, said: “Having to pay employees extra because they take a day’s holiday during furlough will probably be a nasty surprise.  But if employees don’t take holiday during furlough, they will have a lot of time rolled up to take when they get back to work – which may not suit employers either.”