Government rejects call from MPs for a separate Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme for charities

Response to Select Committee's report says that allowing workers to volunteer for their employer could result in people working full time while only being paid 80 per cent of their wages

The government has rejected a call from MPs for it to introduce a separate Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme for charities.

In a report last month, the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) Committee had said that, as individuals, communities and organisations across the UK responded to the threat of COVID-19, it became aware of a mounting crisis within the charity and voluntary sector, with many facing a dramatic fall in income at the same time as the need for their services was increasing as a consequence of the crisis.

As a result, while noting the Chancellor's announcement of £750m funding for frontline charities, the Committee called, amongst a number of recommendations, for the introduction of a separate Job Retention Scheme for charities that would enable furloughed employees to volunteer for their own organisations.

However, in its response published today, the government says that -

• the guidance is clear that organisations cannot ask a furloughed employee to do any work that makes money or provides services for their organisation or any organisation linked or associated with their organisation;
• the scheme is not designed to help charities or other organisations cut the cost of continuing to deliver essential services; and
• if it allowed workers to volunteer for their employer, the employer could ask them to effectively work full time whilst only paying them 80 per cent of their wages.

The government's response to the DCMS Committee's report is available from parliament.uk