Covid-19: Parents with childcare issues 'must get right to furlough'

Parents struggling with childcare due to the lockdown should have a legal right to furlough, Labour have said.

Shadow chancellor Anneliese Dodds said there was mounting evidence the lockdown was putting severe financial strain on parents, especially mothers.

Currently, parents can ask to be furloughed for childcare reasons, but employers can reject the request.

The prime minister's press secretary Allegra Stratton said employers should take such requests "seriously".

The UK-wide furlough scheme in place since March has helped pay the wages of millions of people who can't work due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The scheme pays employees placed on leave up to 80% of their salary, up to a maximum of £2,500 a month.

Labour said it wants the current request system to be turned into a legal and enforceable right to apply - with an expectation that employers would grant furlough, except in exceptional circumstances.

This follows the results of a survey from the Trades Union Congress which invited working mothers to share their experiences. More than 2,000 got in touch to say they had been refused furlough.

Currently, there is a right to take parental leave but that is usually unpaid - which is leaving parents in quite difficult situations.

One single mother of two from the East of England told the BBC that juggling her job with home schooling her children had become "impossible".

"All of us were struggling," Sarah, (which is not her real name), told the BBC.

"Me, the children - to combine the working hours that I have, along with their schoolwork and also just the care that they require - cooking their dinner, their breakfast, trying to keep them sane."

Sarah, who usually works 38 hours a week, asked for flexible furlough to allow her to work part-time, but the request was denied by her employer.

"I feel like I'm having to choose between providing a roof over my family's head and food on the table, versus actually caring for them," she said.

The BBC understands that the government thinks forcing employers to accept furlough requests would be, legally a very difficult place to go, as this would amount to government intervention in an employer-employee contract.

A Treasury spokesperson said: "It's been clear since the first lockdown that employers can furlough eligible employees with childcare responsibilities, including because of school closures.

"The furlough scheme, which has supported millions of parents and families, is just one part of our £280bn broad package of financial support available."

Employer's group, the CBI, says furlough is not the right solution in every situation, given that in practice some businesses need an appropriate number of staff to be available.

"The decision to furlough people ultimately rests with employers, but throughout the pandemic firms have gone to great lengths to engage their staff in this decision-making process," the body's chief UK policy director, Matthew Fell, said.

"Businesses can choose to furlough working parents as one of the ways to help them manage their childcare responsibilities. But it won't be the right solution in every situation.

"Some companies will feel they can offer enough flexibility to their staff without drawing on taxpayer funding. And for others, particularly if sickness absences are running high, the reality is that they need an appropriate number of staff to be available."