Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme: Charities

(asked on 1st May 2020) - View Source

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will amend the furlough scheme so that staff furloughed by charities are not prevented from performing voluntary work for them.


Answered by
Jesse Norman Portrait
Jesse Norman
This question was answered on 6th May 2020

The purpose of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme is to support people who would otherwise have been made redundant. To prevent fraudulent claims, the Government made it clear that individuals cannot work or volunteer for their organisation.

This aims to protect individuals too; if workers were allowed to volunteer for their employer, the employer could ask them to effectively work full time while only paying them 80% of the wages. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport is working with other government departments and the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector to identify areas where volunteers can contribute to the COVID-19 response.

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