Prankster ‘beats Covid rules’ by making company and naming family as staff
A man claims to have ‘beaten’ the rule of six by setting up a company so his family can all come to Christmas dinner.
Fenn Settle, 27, could face celebrating the festive season without his loved ones as his home county of West Yorkshire goes into tier three lockdown on Monday.
However, he has tried to outwit the Government by paying £6 to legally register his business and now plans to ‘hire’ his family as staff.
Workplaces are exempt from the Government’s strict six-person rule, although advice states bosses should follow guidelines to make offices as safe as possible.
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The account manager, from Shipley, outside of Leeds, says he will employ family and friends on zero-hours contracts, before inviting them to ‘unpaid work events’ at his house.
He claims the ‘joke is on the UK Government’, as he highlights ‘how jokes their rules are’.
Fenn was inspired to find a loophole after he was not able to see his grandad Peter, 84, for two months before he passed away at the end of April.
Sharing his plan on Facebook, he said: ‘Right then UK government, jokes on you.
‘I’m not allowed to have my family around for Christmas. I am however allowed to have employees around.
‘£6 later, Fenn Settle Ltd. is now a legally registered company, registered with Companies House.
‘I can now “hire” my family and friends on a zero-hour contract and invite them for an ‘unpaid works event’ at my house (registered premises) regardless of any tier system and totally irrespective of the rule of six. Checkmate.’
The post has received more than 8,500 shares, with many people admiring the ‘genius’ loophole.
It comes as another 280 patients die with coronavirus, with 23,065 more people testing positive.
Speaking of his grandad’s passing, Fenn said it is wrong ‘people are dying on their own and yet you can see work colleagues’.
He said: ’I tried booking a dinner reservation for me and a couple of work colleagues. They said they weren’t able to sit us and I said ‘we’re in a work bubble’ and that was fine.
‘I never expected the post to have this kind of response. It was very much tongue in cheek.
‘It takes up to a week to get everything registered. I’m registering it as a dormant company for some laughs on Facebook, but it escalated.’
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