My daughter had a somewhat incomprehensible experience of furlough. She took a temporary job at a company to provide maternity cover about 18 months ago. Because she did a good job, the temporary contract was extended again and again until December last year. They then told her they wanted to put her on furlough, topped up to 100% of the salary, but they did not want her to work at all - in line with the furlough rules. In April, they intended to offer her a permanent job. In the meantime, someone in the office was badly under-performing (failing to turn up when expected, not doing the work, etc), so they anticipated terminating that person sometime in the first quarter of 2021, thus having a place for my daughter to fill.

She has taken a permanent job elsewhere. Sitting round on furlough doing nothing does not suit her temperament. But it does show that, while it is true some people are very reluctant to ask to be furloughed, some firms are taking advantage of it in ways they perhaps should not.