WEALTHY celebs claimed thousands in taxpayers’ cash to furlough employees, new figures have revealed.
Film director Guy Ritchie, Donald Trump and the Queen’s nephew David Linley all claimed between £10,000 and £25,000 in December.
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Ritchie, worth more than £100million, used handouts to cover pay for the staff of his pub, while Linley claimed for his posh furniture shop David Linley & Co despite turning over £14.2million last year.
Meanwhile, Trump’s luxury golfing resort at Balmedie, Aberdeenshire, took taxpayer handouts while he was still US President, through his firm Trump International Golf Club Scotland Ltd.
The figures were today announced by the government in a report showing how much individual firms have taken to pay workers during lockdown.
It also revealed a host of other celebs claimed up to £10,000 in December to instead of dipping into their own pockets.
This includes modelCara Delevingne and her family, who claimed for five members of staff at their property investment company Harvey White Properties Ltd.
Pippa Middleton’s billionaire husband James Matthews and his Made in Chelsea star brother Spencer claimed up to £10,000 each.
James took the taxpayer cash his Scottish shooting estate Glen Affric, and Spencer for his drinks company The Clean Liquor Co.
Billionaire F1 heiress Petra Ecclestone used up to £10,000 of the fund for her charitable foundation – as well as footballer Jesse Lingard.
Flush Geordie Shore Charlotte Crosby was among the celebs on the list – claiming up to £10,000 to furlough one employee at her company CLC Enterprise.
The Queen’s grandson Peter Phillips furloughed staff at two of his businesses – sports agency SEL UK and horse-racing events firm City Racing. Each received up to £10,000 in December.
Naked Chef Jamie Oliver furloughed chefs who run classes at the Jamie Oliver Cookery School, while Little Mix singer Jade Thirlwall’s firm Chain Reaction Ltd, which runs trendy Arbeia bar in South Shields, also received government cash.
The furlough scheme – formally known as the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme – is expected to cost taxpayers at least £50billion.
It was launched to boost millions of worker wages during the crisis with the government paying employees up to 80 per cent of wages for hours not worked.
Any UK organisation with employees can apply to furlough their workers – including charities and recruitment agencies.
It emerged today the number of people on furlough exploded by around 700,000 in January as a third lockdown came into force.
The celebs who took advantage of the scheme
THESE big names all claimed up to £10,000 from the fund in December:
- Former PM Tony Blair and barrister wife Cherie Blair claimed under their own names, but said it was to pay staff in Mrs Blair’s legal office.
- Model Cara Delevingne and her family claimed for five members of staff at their property investment company Harvey White Properties Ltd.
- Pippa Middleton’s billionaire husband James Matthews and his Made in Chelsea star brother Spencer claimed up to £10,000 each – James for his Scottish shooting estate Glen Affric, and Spencer for his drinks company The Clean Liquor Co.
- Billionaire F1 heiress Petra Ecclestone used the fund for her charitable foundation.
- The Queen’s grandson Peter Phillips furloughed staff at two of his businesses – sports agency SEL UK and horse-racing events firm City Racing. Each received up to £10,000 in December.
- EastEnders star Shane Richie used furlough money for his firm Bluebelle Skye Productions. It is unclear who was furloughed.
- Jesse Lingard furloughed staff at his fashion brand JLingz.
- Naked Chef Jamie Oliver furloughed chefs who run classes at the Jamie Oliver Cookery School.
- Little Mix singer Jade Thirlwall’s firm Chain Reaction Ltd, which runs trendy Arbeia bar in South Shields, received furlough cash.
- Millionaire Geordie Shore star Charlotte Crosby used government money to furlough one employee at her company CLC Enterprise
- Multi-millionaire power couple Charles Saatchi and Trinny Woodall each used the furlough scheme to pay staff. Charles took cash for his company Conarco Ltd, which owns his £200million art collection, and Trinny for her makeup company Trinny London. Each claimed up to £10,000 in December.
And these moneybags businessmen claimed up to £25,000 to furlough staff in December:
- The Queen’s nephew David Linley claimed for his posh furniture shop David Linley & Co despite turning over £14.2million last year.
- Film director Guy Ritchie, worth more than £100million, used handouts to cover pay for the staff of his pub.
- Donald Trump’s luxury golfing resort at Balmedie, Aberdeenshire, took taxpayer handouts while he was still US President, through his firm Trump International Golf Club Scotland Ltd.
Around 4.7million people were furloughed on January 31, up from four million a month earlier, the Treasury revealed.
This means 11.2million employees have been given cash under the scheme.
As of February 15, a total of £53.8billion had been claimed since the furlough scheme began last year.
But wealthy individuals have been criticised for using the scheme, which was designed to protect jobs and businesses during the pandemic, when many have been forced to stop or drastically reduce trading.
It has been extended several times since being introduced on March 20 last year and is now expected to continue until July.
Thousands of firms have since repaid money they claimed from the public purse, including Ikea, Redrow Homes, the Spectator magazine and distribution giant Bunzi.
HMRC said the total amount repaid is currently £504million.