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Dozens of aristocrats claim under UK furlough scheme

63 points · submitted Apr 2021 by u/tensorflower · archived

Dozens of aristocrats claim under UK furlough scheme

12 comments · 84% upvoted · source · other discussions

comments

dooftut 15 points · Apr 2021

Poor rich people

0biwanCannoli 7 points · Apr 2021

Let them eat cake.

wiffleplop 12 points · Apr 2021

No different from a huge company worth billions drawing down on the scheme. Still wrong though, as it should be for smaller companies and people that really need it, not to feather the nests of the ultra rich.

1-05457 8 points · Apr 2021

The people who really need it are probably the employees of the huge companies.

The whole point of the furlough scheme is to provide an alternative to redundancies. It's not a subsidy for the employer in any way.

pisshead_ 2 points · Apr 2021

So you want large companies to pay off millions of workers? No-one is feathering their nest with this system, the money all goes to the workers.

autotldr 2 points · Apr 2021 · BOT

This is the best tl;dr I could make, original reduced by 85%. (I'm a bot)

Dozens of members of Britain's land-owning aristocracy have claimed under the taxpayer-funded furlough scheme to pay staff at their ancestral estates and personal businesses.

Treasury data shows a £10,000 claim in January under the name of the Marquess of Northampton, Spencer Compton, who had an estimated net worth of more than £100m in 2017, according to the Sunday Times rich list.

Olivia Blake, a Labour member of the Commons public accounts committee, which overseas government spending, said: "Clearly the furlough scheme was an opportunity to protect hundreds of thousands of jobs up and down the country. It's meant to be a lifeline for businesses hit hardest by the pandemic."Questions need to be asked about whether this money has gone to those who really need it, or to people and companies who could have made their way through comfortably.

Extended Summary | FAQ | Feedback | Top keywords: claim#1 company#2 own#3 estate#4 list#5

Urtel 2 points · Apr 2021

I mean...If they had most of their income from having tourists and parties in their family estate, they are probably perfectly eligable for the sheme, no? What else can you do with a big mansion in middle of nowhere

1-05457 1 points · Apr 2021

I thought all companies were eligible.

The furlough scheme simply allows companies to furlough (i.e. temporarily stop employing) staff with 80% pay (that the government will reimburse) instead of making them redundant with 0 pay.

crouchinggranny 1 points · Apr 2021

“...another waffer theen meent sir?”

TheAdequateKhali 1 points · Apr 2021

Let me guess... they aren’t going to be in any legal trouble for doing so.

pisshead_ 2 points · Apr 2021

Because they have done literally nothing wrong.

Vehlin 1 points · Apr 2021

COVID has been devastating for a lot of these estates. They survive off the income from tourists, especially in recent years from China, which has totally dried up.

These old buildings cost eye-watering amounts of money to keep in repair and suddenly the vast majority of the estate's income has vanished. They're about as prime an example of the impact of COVID on a business as you can get.