Multi-millionaire Gordon Ramsay sparks fury by using taxpayer-funded furlough scheme to pay axed staff their notice

GORDON Ramsay is using the taxpayer-funded furlough wage scheme to pay axed staff their notice.

And he’s sparked fury by telling those facing the boot they can apply for lower-paid jobs.

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The celebrity chef’s companies axed 500 workers as restaurants and pubs were told to close in March, and laid off many without using the furlough scheme.

Now an email seen by The Sun on Sunday shows the scheme is being used to pay some staff as they work their notice. The message was sent by Gordon Ramsay Restaurants’ HR Director Sarah Anderson to a London-based worker.

It says: “Should you not wish to apply for a new role, you will remain on the furlough scheme for the duration of your notice.”

A source, who knows dozens of staff employed by F-Word and Kitchen Nightmares star Ramsay, slammed the way his businesses have dealt with the coronavirus lockdown.

The source said: “The ­furlough scheme is called the job retention scheme — but that is not what he seems to be using it for. They are sacking people anyway.

“What they are doing in some cases is offering jobs that they know people can’t do or can’t afford to do — such as telling a supervisor they can become a bartender.

“But someone who has worked at a Michelin-starred restaurant is not going to go and work in a pub.”

Tory MP Alec Shelbrooke questioned whether Ramsay — said to be worth £140million — had helped workers or “exploited the taxpayer”.

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