What it’s like to live with no earnings for eight months as scores have missed out on furlough from bosses and authorities since March

Scores of people have slipped through the government’s COVID support net with some living with no earnings since March.

Since the pandemic began, an estimated three million self-employed people claim to have had no financial support from the government across the UK.

Now, more have come forward saying they’ve been denied support payments, which would have been made through the government’s furlough scheme at no cost to businesses, by their current or former employers.

One lady from Bury, who wishes to remain anonymous, said she has had no earnings since she was made redundant eight months ago.

Living with her partner who is working on a reduced wage, the young mother has had to shield to protect one of her children and is ineligible for Universal Credit because she has a mortgage.

Paying bills from one income has proven tough for her family as she has had to stay inside, look for work and home-educate her children. She believes the pandemic has ‘sent women back decades’.

She said: “With the burden of child care, professional women have been set back almost to the 1950s.

“The onus in the home is disproportionately on women and women have been felt a greater impact than men from the situation. I shouldn’t have to rely, a woman shouldn’t have to rely, on someone else.

“I keep thinking if I was a single mother, and there are single mothers out there, I would be even more stuck.”

The mum added: “I’ve followed the rules to a tee and as a tax payer who’s never claimed benefits in her life, ever, people are being penalised for doing the right thing.

“It’s been completely horrendous, like some sort of horror story. I was made redundant in March with all requests for furlough ignored by my employers.

“You can imagine the stress I was going through, it’s quite emotional thinking about it and I’ve been trying to shield my children from the impact it was having on me mentally, trying keep a brave face.

“It brings up so many emotions and it’s quite traumatic hearing the government say they won’t leave anybody behind knowing what I’ve experienced. They just make empty plateaus.”

She believes the government ‘should never have made employers the gatekeepers’ of the furlough scheme as it leaves it ‘too open to discrimination and fraud’.

Another lady, a single mother from Wigan, who also wishes to remain anonymous, has three children to look after.

The only income she has had since the start of the pandemic has come from benefits.

She said she had worked for a company for more than 15 years before she was refused furlough by her employer in March, when schools and childminders were forced to close, and the effect it has had on her mental health is stark.

She said: “I spoke to my employer because I was unable to have someone in my home to look after the children. I qualified for furlough and showed my employer this, but they refused me and said it was because they had offered me alternative working hours. Alternative hours made no difference to me as I couldn’t leave my youngest alone no matter what time of the day it was.

“I was forced to take unpaid leave. I got myself that stressed over the situation that I rang the doctor as I wasn’t sleeping and they gave me some sleeping tablets. I have ended up with anxiety to the point where I have just completed a Cognitive Behavioural Therapy course that my doctor put me onto. I have also just been prescribed propranolol.”

Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, said: “It’s not right that three million people in the UK have been excluded from meaningful financial support from the government at their time of greatest need.

“Lessons should have been learned from the first lockdown on the impact on those who missed out on financial help and I would urge the government to do the right thing and close the gaps in their various financial schemes.”

Speaking on Talk Radio this morning, Mr Burnham added: “What I would say to any politician of any party is please just sit down with these people who are your constituents, just listen to their stories about how hard this year has been.

“I think it leaves a terrible message hanging over the country at the end of this – you’re completely on your own – there are many, many reasons here why the government should intervene; it’s basic humanity that should call on them to act.”

Refused Furlough Support Group support and fight for ‘the hundreds of thousands of employed people who were refused to be put on the government’s coronavirus job retention scheme’.

An RFSG spokesperson said: “Our objective is to be a voice for those who have fallen through the furlough ‘cracks’, which after eight long months, still have not been reformed or addressed, despite cries from many desperate people who do not have an income.

“The devastation of losing your job is horrific, but during a pandemic, especially when there was government support available, makes it incomprehensible. There can be no excuses for employers who took this action.

“We are campaigning for immediate action, to hold accountable not only the employers, but the government who helped facilitate these inconceivable and unwarranted dismissals and betrayals during the largest pandemic in modern times.”

An HM Treasury spokesperson said: “Support from the government has been far from careless. The furlough scheme has and continues to prevent widespread economic damage, it’s protected 9.6m jobs across the UK and supported some of the lowest paid in our society. It is for employers to decide whether to make use of the scheme.”

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