A member of staff who’d just resigned to work for another retailer sent me an email last week with a link to a video from @MartinSLewis which suggested that as she worked for us on 28th February we could still put her into furlough.

The other retailer that she’d left us to join had furloughed all their workers but as she wasn’t on their books on 28th Feb they’d had to let her go. I did a bit of digging and took some legal advice and it looks as though Martin is right.

A quick check of our HR records showed that there were a few other staff in a very similar position who’d all resigned on good terms. So we called them all and offered to put them into furlough. They were totally chuffed.

They couldn’t believe that a business they had resigned from would proactively try to help them this way... but they’ve all given us years of loyal service and they’d left to further their careers. Through no fault of their own they’d just picked an awful time to do it.

I’m not after any credit - it’s the govt’s scheme not ours - but there must be hundreds of people, if not thousands, in a similar position with other companies. So if you’re a CEO why not at least ask the question of HR? You never know, you could really make a difference.

As a footnote... @MartinSLewis has since updated his official advice... https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2020/04/left-a-job-after-28-feb-and-new-job-fell-through--you-can-be-reh/