Our Ref:         FOI-0925-2021

Thank you for your request received on 27 August 2020 asking for information about furloughed staff.

Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act and our information access policy. I can confirm we do hold the information you require.

Please find the requested information attached. We are unable to provide job titles or information on the areas of the business where fewer than 10 employees have been furloughed, in accordance with TfL’s obligations under Data Protection legislation and as required by section 40(2) of the FOI Act, as this would make the majority of individuals identifiable. Disclosure of this personal data would be a breach of the legislation, specifically the first principle which requires all processing of personal data to be fair and lawful. It would not be fair to disclose this personal information when the individuals have no expectation it would be disclosed and TfL has not satisfied one of the conditions which would make the processing ‘fair’.

Note that employees on the Government job retention scheme are kept under constant review and change in response to changing business demands on a weekly basis. In total, over the course of the furlough period, around 7,000 TfL staff whose work was reduced or paused as a result of the coronavirus pandemic have been furloughed. This has allowed TfL to access funding from the Government's job retention scheme, saving the organisation an estimated £15.8m every four weeks.

TfL has not furloughed any safety critical roles, critical operational roles or those running TfL services that provide public transport for customers who need to travel during the pandemic. TfL has also not furloughed any roles that are necessary to support London’s recovery from the pandemic and to enable customers to travel safely and sustainably.

In addition to furloughing roles whose work was reduced, paused or stopped due to the pandemic, we have also furloughed staff who needed to shield or those who were on long-term sick leave. There has therefore been some instances where individuals have been furloughed as they were unable to work.

Further information about the furloughing of staff can be found in our Press Release of 24 April 2020, published on our website:

https://tfl.gov.uk/info-for/media/press-releases/2020/april/transport-for-london-to-place-7-000-staff-on-furlough-to-help-safeguard-vital-transport-services

If this is not the information you are looking for, or if you are unable to access it for some reason, please feel free to contact me.

The impact of current circumstances on TfL’s resources means we are not able to answer FOI requests readily and we ask that you please do not make a request to us at present.
 
Answering FOI requests will require the use of limited resources and the attention of staff who could be supporting other essential activity. In any event, please note that our response time will be affected by the current situation.

Please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to appeal.

Yours sincerely

Gemma Jacob
Senior FOI Case Officer
FOI Case Management Team
General Counsel
Transport for London

[email protected]

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