Our Ref:         FOI-1881-2021

Thank you for your request asking for information about payments made to 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 hold some of the information you require. You asked:
 
1.  Number of TfL staff on Furlough at end of each month from March to November both as an actual number and percentage of head count.
4.  Costs of 2 above broken down my months or periods
 
Please find the requested information in the table below.

To be aware – TfL, with the exception of clinically extremely vulnerable colleagues as stated below, did not furlough 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. Save for the prior exception, TfL also did not furlough 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 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.

TfL does not currently have any staff on furlough and its participation in the Government Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme ended on 2 December 2020.
 
Month Number of employees Top up amount % of headcount furloughed
March 1689 £827,196.96 6%
April 6391 £2,631,542.16 23%
May 7088 £7,412,841.34 26%
June 6715 £5,845,379.16 25%
July 4780 £4,794,175.19 18%
August 3285 £3,607,481.16 12%
September 2239 £2,611,998.50 8%
October 1675 £2,159,942.24 6%
   
Total 7,425 £29,890,556.71 27%
 
2.  Full details of the arrangement to  up HMG Furlough payments to normal salary - What was stated to staff about it. In particular was it top up to 100.%, was it just top up to basic pay or average overtime too, and finally for those whose salary was above the furloughed limit (£37.5k pa) was it topped up to the £37.5 or to full salary.
 
The attached document was created for furloughed employees. In accordance with our obligations under Data Protection legislation some personal data has been removed, as required by section 40(2) of the FOI Act. This is because disclosure of this personal data would be a breach of the legislation, specifically the first principle of Article 5 of the General Data Protection Regulation 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’.
 
This exemption to the right of access to information is an absolute exemption and not subject to an assessment of whether the public interest favours use of the exemption.
 
We also regularly update the FAQ section on our intranet regarding the coronavirus, which includes detailed information on furlough. All staff have access to this information.
 
Base salary was paid to 100%, regular payments made in each pay period were included, ad hoc overtime was not factored into the salary. Salary amounts were honoured for those earning above £37,500.
 
3. Have both TfL and employee pension contributions been paid and deducted from salaries in relation to the furloughed payments made by HMG.
3a. Will the furloughed period be regarded as employment service when calculation length of service for pension purposes.
 
The furloughed period is considered as employment service so TfL and employee pension contribution arrangements continued as normal.
 
5. Costs to TfL of 3 above similarly broken down by months or periods
 
We do not hold a separate figure for furloughed employees. Pension and employer’s National Insurance contributions were paid in full for all furloughed and non-furloughed TfL employees.
 
6. In the case of staff on temporary secondment or “acting up” was salary topped up to substantial role or to higher, temporary, rate.
 
Salaries were equal to the value at the time associated to the substantive role taking into account secondments or individual arrangements (note answer to question 2).
 
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.
 
If you are considering submitting a further FOI request please think carefully about whether the request is essential at this current time, as answering FOI requests will require the use of limited resources and the attention of staff who could be supporting other essential activity. Where requests are made, please note that our response time may be impacted 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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