‘We missed out on furlough by a day’

The hotel closed down in March due to the coronavirus pandemic

The entire workforce of a Scottish hotel missed out on months of furlough payments because they were registered a day after the deadline.

None of the 73 staff at the Glasgow River Hotel in Erskine were put on the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme when the hotel closed in March.

But they did not find out for months that they would get no money.

The furlough scheme would have paid a large portion of their wages until the hotel opened again on 1 September.

Instead, all the staff were left with no wages, forcing some to claim benefits and others to dig into their pensions.

The hotel, which was known as the Erskine Bridge Hotel until earlier this year, was bought by MGM Muthu in January.

Unique circumstances

When it closed for the Covid lockdown, the tax authorities, HMRC, deemed staff at the business ineligible for enrolment in the UK government's Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.

This was because they were registered on 20 March - a day after the cut-off for furlough.

The owners of the hotel have appealed to HMRC to look at the unique circumstances in this case and make an exception.

They also told BBC Scotland they were pursuing a "legal recourse" with Active Corporate, the accounting firm which set up the hotel's payroll.

Neil Irwin is spearheading the attempt by several employees to get some payment from MGM Muthu

Neil Irwin, the former manager of the hotel, is spearheading the attempt by several employees to get some payment from MGM Muthu.

He told BBC Scotland's The Nine: "It's been like radio silence - lack of recognition, lack of remorse, lack of empathy towards people's situations and that's just been the most shocking thing for me. It's what I can't really accept."

Agnes Gilchrist was the head of housekeeping at the Glasgow River Hotel and had worked there for 32 years. She handed her notice in in August.

"It was like working for a family, we all got on really well," she said.

"But, to be promised something that never came - after 30-odd years, you don't expect to be treated like that."

Agnes Gilchrist was the head of housekeeping and worked at the hotel for 32 years

It was two months into lockdown before staff began to get alarmed about whether they would be paid, Ms Gilchrist said.

"May's pay date was when we got absolutely nothing," she said. "We were told it was HMRC's fault and that the company was fighting on our behalf."

After months of lobbying MGM Muthu and HMRC, with the help of local MP Gavin Newlands, the true nature of what had happened started to emerge.

Mr Newlands has called on the tax authorities to show some flexibility in this case, while he said MGM Muthu should look to "do the right thing" and give the employees involved a goodwill payment.

'Let down'

Ms Gilchrist, who is 66, said she had to cash in a pension to get by during lockdown.

"We felt let down by the company, and also by the government, for one day," she said. "It's hard to swallow."

Former manager Mr Irwin said he ended up on Universal Credit and applying for payment holidays over the course of lockdown.

He said he was angry there had been no acknowledgement by MGM Muthu of the lack of organisation and no apology.

He resigned from the company in July after being "left in limbo" but several members of staff returned to work at the hotel when it reopened on 1 September.

'Bad luck'

Thom Murphy, who was appointed general manager of the hotel when it reopened, said: "There are a lot of circumstances which are, kind of, bad luck, which is why we really want HMRC to take into account the mitigating circumstances for this property, for the 70-odd staff it involves.

"This isn't a situation which we're finding up and down the country. So we don't understand why they can't look at this individual case, and make an exception."

He denied allegations from former staff that they were misled by MGM Muthu over lockdown.

"I'm not aware of them being misled. The company's tried to keep them informed the whole way through this," he said.

"I think the company's apologised to the staff. The fact they didn't get it (furlough) we have a great deal of empathy with."

Active Corporate did not respond to a request for comment.

HMRC said it could not comment on individual cases, but stated the reason for the furlough scheme's 19 March cut-off date was to "help prevent significant levels of fraud".