UK 
United States
Several high-profile celebrities have come under fire for choosing to furlough staff, despite their own personal fortunes.
In April 2020 Victoria Beckham was branded a “total disgrace” for making the decision to furlough staff. Elsewhere, the fashion designer Stella McCartney also found herself hitting headlines last year after she revealed she would be placing employees on the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS), despite having an estimated personal fortune of around £60million.
Now it seems that millionaire reality TV star Charlotte Crosby has also found herself in a similar situation. Known for her time on MTV’s show Geordie Shore and for winning the twelfth series of Celebrity Big Brother, the star has now come under fire for using the Government’s furlough scheme.
According to the Mirror, Crosby is estimated to be worth around £2.9million but chose to claim furlough for her company CLC Enterprise last December.
The details of this were listed on HMRC’s website under ‘Transparency Data’, which is where Crosby’s company was listed. It is one of the thousands of other businesses that have chosen to claim on the Government’s support scheme amid the coronavirus crisis.
A representative of the former Geordie Shore star shared that she chose to furlough one member of staff whose role was not needed at the time.
“Charlotte has furloughed one member of staff only during this period – this particular role is currently not needed due to the impact of Covid-19,” they explained.
Her business was set up back in 2013 alongside her dad, who is listed on Companies House as the co-Director, meanwhile Crosby’s occupation is listed as ‘entertainer’.
Supporting staff
While many celebrities have been caught up in furlough furores – celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay was accused of using furlough money to pay laid off staff their notice period last year – some well-known public figures have chosen to support staff themselves.
Back in April 2020, singer Ed Sheeran announced that he would do whatever it takes to keep his staff employed during the current crisis, and refused to furlough his employees under the CJRS scheme.
In addition, TV personality Simon Cowell recently called on stars to “rise to the challenge” when it comes to paying their own staff, reported The Sun.
He said: “I don’t like celebrities telling people what to do, and I know this is a hugely difficult time for so many – worries about family, health, jobs, paying the mortgage and feeding their family are at the forefront of people's minds.
“But there are still other people in business and in entertainment with resources available, so today it's those people I'm urging to rise to this enormous challenge.”
Despite this, statistics shared from a British Chambers of Commerce survey last year revealed that seven in ten UK firms have furloughed staff, indicating the high numbers of employers who have relied on the scheme to support workers.
With the coronavirus crisis ongoing, the Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced that the CJRS scheme, which sees furloughed workers paid 80% of their monthly wages by the taxpayer – which can be up to £2,500 per month – will be extended until April 30, 2021.
