Petition · past parliament

Create a mechanism for furloughed staff to be able to work, where possible

Rejected 10 signatures

What the petition asks

Not all employers, employees or businesses want staff to stop working 100%. This may & will cause more damage.

The government must create a mechanism for employers to furlough staff, but allow employees to do SOME work. The employee’s extra hours is paid: gov. backed as a % returned to employer
The government’s furlough scheme protects employees from redundancy whilst businesses slow down or stop.

However, staff are NOT allowed to work. This means businesses grind to a halt. They shouldn’t have to.

NOT all businesses need or want staff to be off work 100%.

Furloughed staff need an opportunity to be able to work.

Allowing furloughed staff to work some hours/days gives British businesses a greater opportunity to not only survive the pandemic, but also come out the other end STRONGER.

Why it was rejected

There was already a petition about this issue. Duplicates are rejected so signatures collect in one place.

Change restrictions on furloughed workers so they can still work and contribute

You can find out more about coronavirus and how you can protect yourself and others here:
www.gov.uk/coronavirus
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/

You can read NHS tips to help if you are worried about coronavirus here: https://www.nhs.uk/oneyou/every-mind-matters/coronavirus-covid-19-anxiety-tips

You can read impartial analysis of the Government response to coronavirus and policy developments here:
https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/coronavirus/

You may also be interested to know that because of the large number of petitions that have been started in relation to coronavirus, the Petitions Committee has been questioning the Government about its response to the coronavirus outbreak.
 
Find out more and watch the Committee put questions suggested by petitioners to Government Ministers and the Deputy Chief Medical Officer: https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/326/petitions-committee/news/145767/committee-question-deputy-chief-medical-officer-and-ministers-on-coronavirus-response/
 
Read letters asking further questions of Government Ministers: https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/326/petitions-committee/publications/3/correspondence/

Timeline

26 Mar 2020 Petition opened for signatures
15 Apr 2020 Rejected by the Petitions Committee

Key facts

Signatures 10
Status Rejected
Rejected 15 Apr 2020

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Source: the official petition page. Last checked 15 Jul 2026.