Employers must first make an honest effort to recall furloughed staff (if necessary, on a part-time basis) and try to devise a work structure to keep as many employees in work as possible until the end of the furlough scheme in October 2020 and then move for redundancies as a last resort.

The aim of the furlough scheme was to avoid mass redundancies. Employers in the UK are increasingly choosing to make staff redundant as an easy excuse to avoid chipping into the furlough scheme from August 2020 and are not making a sincere effort to retain staff.

Employers should be banned from making furloughed staff redundant until the scheme ends in October 2020, instead bring their furloughed staff back to work, if necessary on part-time, reduced working hours and work towards developing organisation structures that facilitate retaining the maximum number of the work force.