I work for company who manufacture products that are deemed critical and so are remaining open. However, the site was closed to the requirement for safety measures and social distancing measures to be put in place.

The closure was not anticipated to be 3 weeks or longer and therefore we were not placed on furlough. Now that we have been off for 3 weeks with no pay, can the company put in place a retrospective furlough agreement so as to allow the 80% payment to be backdated? This being the case, I trust the agreement would have to be backdated to the first day of lay-off to ensure the business is covered in the event of a future audit.

A large number of those laid off are agency workers, all employed before the 28th February and all on PAYE. Our contract of employment is with the agency, the company for who we work for is the hirer and we (the workers) are the service providers. Our wages are paid by the hirer to the agency who in turn pay the service providers. In this instance, I trust the agency would be responsible for processing the furlough payment but only on agreement from the hirer that they are willing to provide the 80% payment in advance of the agency claiming via the portal on the hirer's behalf. Is this correct?

I ask this as there seems to be a degree of 'passing the buck' between the agency and the employer and I would like to know where we stand.

Thank you.