the company is Wepaye Umbrella. snippets from an email received
By providing furlough payments to contractors who are not currently under contract at this time would mean that we would have to pay out substantial and ongoing contributions (such as holiday pay, apprenticeship levy etc.) from our own resource, as well upfront salaries and a percentage of these costs will not recoverable from the government, agency or end client. Providing these costs upfront would not be sustainable and would result in significant loss to the business. Therefore, we just do not have the capital to endure such losses.
if we were to furlough all contractors who were not currently under contract or had their contracts cancelled, whether due to coronavirus or not, this would not be sustainable for us as a company.