Citizens Advice calls on government to give workers who are ‘shielding’ due to COVID-19 an automatic right to be furloughed

Charity's research finds that more than a quarter of those in shielded group have lost at least 60 per cent of their income

Citizens Advice has called on the government to give workers who are shielding due to COVID-19 an automatic right to be furloughed

Highlighting that a flaw in government guidance - which advises 2.5 million people who are 'extremely clinically vulnerable' to shield at home until at least the end of June but does not oblige employers to furlough them - is creating a 'catch-22', Citizens Advice reports that as many as one in ten of those in the shielded group are working outside of the home despite this potentially putting their health at risk. 

Analysing around 2,000 of all its employment cases since 14 April 2020, Citizens Advice finds that  - 

• four in ten (41 per cent) of those in the shielded group have lost at least 20 per cent of their income since the coronavirus outbreak began, and more than a quarter (27 per cent) have lost 60 per cent of their income or more; and
• more than 70 per cent of those who are shielding or are at higher risk from coronavirus - such as those who are pregnant or have diabetes - were not furloughed compared to 56 per cent of workers overall.

Calling on the government to give vulnerable workers a right to be furloughed for as long as their work would require them to breach public health advice, Chief Executive of Citizens Advice Gillian Guy said - 

'The government’s extraordinary interventions have protected millions of jobs and incomes, but some of the most vulnerable have still fallen through the safety net.

We’re already seeing worrying cases of people being caught in a catch-22 where they have been denied furlough and asked to work in direct contradiction of public health advice. We fear the situation could worsen as more workplaces reopen.

Unless people who are shielding have a right to be furloughed while their health is at risk, some will continue to face an impossible choice: paying the bills or protecting their health.'

For more information see Many in shielded group facing 'catch-22' as incomes plummet from citizensadvice.org.uk