Petition · past parliament

Make it compulsory businesses furlough staff made redundant/unable to find work

Rejected 21 signatures

What the petition asks

Make furlough compulsory for any employe on a company’s PAYE during the gov dates set.
Alternatively, if rejected by employers, make it possible to apply directly for the scheme.
Currently the furlough scheme allows businesses to make the decision if they will furlough. Meaning many ex employees having left due to redundancy or for a new job, which fit the government guidelines, are being told no! This crack in the scheme means many have been left without any financial support.
Your help should NOT be the decision of ex employers, it should be compulsory! Or an alternative form of application to scheme should be available.

Why it was rejected

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

You may wish to sign some of these petitions:

You may wish to sign some of these petitions:

Remove firms discretion and obligate firms to furlough employees where eligible: Remove firms discretion and obligate firms to furlough employees where eligible.

Allow employees to claim the 80% income support directly from the Government: Allow employees to claim the 80% income support directly from the Government

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/

The Government has also created an online service to help you out what you can do if you’re struggling because of coronavirus: https://www.gov.uk/find-coronavirus-support

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: https://committees.parliament.uk/work/192/the-governments-response-to-coronavirus/

Timeline

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

Key facts

Signatures 21
Status Rejected
Rejected 1 Jun 2020

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