365 days of furlough and counting: Meet the people who have been off work for a year

On 20 March 2020, chancellor Rishi Sunak stood behind a podium at Downing Street and delivered an economic package unseen in the history of the British state. He announced that, as a result of the coronavirus pandemic and businesses being asked to close their doors, the Treasury was setting up, what it called, the “Coronavirus job retention scheme” or furlough. In short the government was no longer asking employers to pay wages, instead it would foot the bill.

The furlough payments covered 80 per cent of salaries up to a total of £2,500 a month, and employers could choose to top up the pay packet if they wished. Mr Sunak said: “To all those at home right now, anxious about the days ahead, I say this: you will not face this alone. I have a responsibility to make sure we protect, as far as possible, people’s jobs.”

Initially the scheme was available for only three months. Then in May 2020, when it became apparent the tide would not “be turned in 12 weeks”, as Boris Johnson had boldly claimed, the scheme was extended to September and new terms were added. Then in November, as England faced a second lockdown, it was extended again to spring. The scheme has still not ended and currently has a suggested end date of September 2021: 18 months after that first speech.

The economic toll of the coronavirus pandemic on the UK cannot be understated. In 12 months 700,000 people have lost their jobs, the economy shrunk by 10 per cent – the largest fall in 300 years – and borrowing is the highest it has ever been outside of wartime. Data published in February shows a total of more than 11 million jobs have been supported by furlough, and as of January, there were still nearly five million people relying on it (an increase from December).

As well as the economic repercussions of the furlough scheme, there are other unseen consequences – loneliness, fear and uncertainty about the future – especially for those who have been on the scheme for a full calendar year. The Independent meets those who have been waiting to return to work since March last year.

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Philipa Teixeira, 50 from Ipswich, trampoline coach

On Thursday 19 March 2020, we knew it was going to be our last trampolining session for a while. We’d heard on the grapevine that the leisure centre, where I’ve worked as a trampoline coach since 2005, was closing on the Friday at 4pm ahead of a potential lockdown. There was a surreal feeling knowing it was going to be our last class.

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I taught 10 hours of trampoline per week – mainly children and some adults – and worked on the reception desk for five hours every other week. We knew that the centre was likely to close but we presumed we’d be back working before the summer. A week later it was confirmed via email: we were being put on the government’s newly announced furlough job retention scheme. A year later, I’m still on it.

We were told we would have 100 per cent of our salary, topped up by the centre. At the beginning, I was perfectly happy with this – you know as long as you’re getting paid, you can’t really complain. Alongside the leisure centre jobs, I’d also been working at a hairdressing chain on the front desk since July 2019. I was put on furlough there too with an 80 per cent pay packet.

In the first couple of months I was optimistic; I mainly spent my time enjoying the weather, and doing things I normally don’t get the time to do. I made some jewellery, took up cycling and did some painting of the house. I also did some stuff in the garden and just kept myself busy really. It was the perfect time to do those things as you’re normally struggling to find the time. And we were really lucky with the good weather.

In the summer there was some talk about us potentially going back but that didn’t happen in the end. The leisure centre prioritised other parts like the gym, because it makes the most money so makes the most sense. At that time the compensation fell to 80 per cent – and has stayed there.

Around this time I did worry they were going to make us redundant. I felt in limbo as some things were starting to reopen and I just had this really strong feeling they were going to get rid of us. I guess we weren’t hearing a lot so I presumed. I started getting messages from my students, telling me they were missing the classes. They are only children and I think it does help their mental health doing the things they love. It’s been so long I don’t even know if they will all come back.

As time has gone on I’ve started to feel differently about furlough, more uncertain. Then in January I got made redundant from the hairdressers so had to start looking for other jobs. I’ve applied for everything – receptionist, supermarkets, nursing assistants. I think there are some jobs out there but a massive number of people going for them and if you haven’t got the exact experience they’ll pick someone who does.

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Of course I have also thought about what if the furlough scheme ends – it does creep into your mind. Having lost the other job as well it’s so difficult finding something new. And it doesn’t help being an older woman. I know they’re not allowed to discriminate in hiring but I’m sure they do. The hardest thing is keeping up the motivation to do applications for weeks on end. It’s demoralising.

I’m happy to wait for that job to come back because trampolining is my passion. In the future I will look back at the furlough and be grateful it happened, I don’t think I would have got through without it.

Robert Dale, 45, Hounslow, Duty Free at Heathrow Terminal 2

I have worked at Heathrow Terminal 2 for ten years. My current job, which I’ve been doing for four years, is doing the admin for the Duty Free shop. Before that I was stacking shelves on the shop floor, but now I work in the office. I work nights from 6pm to 6am.

On 24 March we found out that we were being furloughed. I was due in that night so I was really excited when I woke up to a call saying that I could stay at home. As you can imagine I didn’t quite know what to do being told we were being paid 80 per cent of our wages and didn’t have to work for three weeks – obviously, no one knew it would end up being for this long.

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A long time ago I had a knee operation and I had to take four months off work for that. I recalled that first month was okay but by about the six-week mark you’ve watched all the programmes, you’ve played all the games, and you start to feel a bit lost. I feel the same now, there is only so much housework and washing I can do.

I never really got into all the decorating stuff, to keep myself busy my nine-year-old daughter and I would do our hour of exercise together. We used to go to the Twickenham stadium car park, which is just around the corner and was totally empty, and would play tennis together, or go on a bike ride. I guess drinking and Playstation were also big hobbies for me, although all the sport going from TV was a real killer. No football, dart, cricket or tennis.

Motivation has been a big problem for me. I’ll wake up and really cannot be arsed to do anything. That is one of the biggest issues I’ve faced. Also getting back into a normal sleeping pattern – I’ve worked nights most of my life so to all of a sudden not be a vampire, it took about six months to adjust to normal sleep.

There have been times when I’ve been worried I might not have a job to go back to – at my age, filling out all those applications and doing interviews again, it’s a real worry. But they have been reassuring us that our jobs are safe. I know for a fact that where I work eventually there will come a point when everyone will be travelling again and there is likely to be overtime in abundance. I’ll have spent a year at home and then will spend a year at work.

After so long not working I am a bit nervous that I’ll go back to work and I’ll have forgotten how to do my job, what to do, or my passwords. It’s been a year after all. I’m also quite anxious about people not wearing the masks and abiding by the rules so that is on my mind about going back.

I never thought I’d say it but I am actually looking forward to going back. Mentally I’m quite strong but there are days where I’ve felt quite down. Then I think, like Captain Tom said, “Tomorrow it will be a good day”. Looking back on the last year it has certainly been different but it is one thing the government has got right. Can you imagine looking back on the past year without any of these wages? Who would have thought?

Matt Snowden, 30, Harrogate, press officer for a hotel chain

We sort of suspected it was coming when we watched other European countries starting their lockdowns in March. We were called downstairs at the head office and told there would be mass furlough on 80 per cent salary for probably a couple of months, to summer or latest July, then things would go back to normal. But of course it didn’t turn out that way.

The first month I was excited, I used to get up in the morning and sit outside in the fields and drink coffee. My wife – who was always working remotely – would glare at me from the kitchen window while I enjoyed myself. Then, about a month into the furlough, it became clear to me it wasn’t going to be a short-term thing.

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On some days you really appreciated it when the sun was out and you can sit outside and do stuff but then there were plenty of rainy days when you realise you haven’t done anything different from sitting in your chair for three weeks and all the time blurs into one. It is quite isolating. We live in a village and there is not really anywhere to go or anything to do. The only person I really speak to is my wife, although we have also been regularly playing Dungeons and Dragons with friends from London on Zoom.

I was getting desperate for something to do and I felt bad that I wasn’t using my time productively as I was just sitting reading. So I applied to be a volunteer fruit picker at three different places – I just wanted to find something to do. But in North Yorkshire there isn’t much fruit, all livestock and arable farming and fruit picking jobs were in the south, so that didn’t work out.

Then I decided to pick up more freelance work – I already did some evenings and weekends for clients. Since then I had enough stuff to do 24/7 more or less. It has kind of become a fulltime job. But in the winter it was certainly quite depressing – I wouldn’t go outside and it would be dark in the morning when I started and dark in the evening when I finished.

Despite this extra work, I do find myself thinking about my career being on pause – it is inescapable to not think about it when you’ve been out for a year, and at the age I am – just going past 30 – it is the time you’re supposed to be moving on up and doing a lot of career expansion so it is a concern for me certainly in terms of my personal development.

If you’d asked me six months ago about my thoughts on furlough I would have said it is nice to be able to spend time at home, to go on walks when I want to or watch TV when I want to. But that novelty is wearing very thin at this stage.

It was a couple of months ago when I got past the point where furlough was fun or interesting, now looking back it feels like a bit of a waste of my life really.