Thousands of housing association staff furloughed as government’s job retention scheme opens

The JRS, announced in late March, promises to pay 80% of wages of workers up to a maximum of
£2,500 per month to avoid a spike in unemployment.

The National Housing Federation (NHF) said that the majority of staff furloughed by associations were from “non-essential roles”, with several associations telling Inside Housing that those furloughed were back office staff not needed while the business was carrying out emergency repairs only.

The NHF confirmed this week that it had furloughed a third of its own staff.

The majority of those that have furloughed staff said that where possible they have sought to redeploy staff as a priority.

Greg Campbell, partner at Campbell Tickell, said: “Furloughing staff is plainly better than redundancy – it is a demonstration that organisations will be looking to get people back working as soon as possible.”

But he added: “If organisations are saying they are not sure how long they will be viable at present rates of activity, then yes, it’s possible that redundancies will happen.”

Jamie Gamble, partner at law firm Ward Hadaway, told Inside Housing that associations should be considering the legal implications involved in furloughing staff.

He said: “The position is complex where you have a mixture of public and private funding and to what extent are you prevented from furloughing because of being in receipt of public funds.

“The principle underpinning this is whatever you do, you should not ‘double recover’ for any employees from your normal public funding and the JRS. You can’t continue to get money to fund something and then furlough them and claim 80% of their wages – that’s double recovering form the public purse.”

Mr Gamble suggested that associations which have already furloughed should now consider an exit plan including whether redundancies, wage cuts, job sharing and part-time working are necessary.

Some organisations, including Notting Hill Genesis and Riverside, are instead increasing staff to deal with demand in areas including care and support.

Riverside has employed around 250 agency temps to cover frontline staff who are currently ill or self-isolating.