Petition · past parliament

New starter furlough

Rejected 21 signatures

What the petition asks

Include new starters employed between 28th February 2020 and 20th March 2020 to the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme. Allow new employers to re-hire and furlough employees they've had to dismiss due to not being able to apply for recently employed employees.
Thousands have fallen into this loophole and they've been left with no support promised by the government for employed workers. Use their previous employments PAYE to calculate their income or last years earnings. No one should be left behind if they was EMPLOYED regardless of the date before the scheme was announced.

Why it was rejected

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

Change the Furlough Support Scheme to include new hires after 28th February.

You can find out about what Government support is available for people as a result of coronavirus (under the section on employment and financial support) here: https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus

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

1 Apr 2020 Petition opened for signatures
16 Apr 2020 Rejected by the Petitions Committee

Key facts

Signatures 21
Status Rejected
Rejected 16 Apr 2020

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