In the past week many wealthy business owners including Richard Branson and Victoria Beckham, have been questioned for using tax-payer money to pay their employees. Sir Philip Green, Lord Lloyd Webber and Stella McCartney have also been reported to use the scheme.

Ms Beckham has 35 staff working for her fashion brand that will allegedly cost the taxpayer £200,000 to keep on until the scheme ends in June.

Meanwhile, Prince Charles has 197 staff at The Prince’s Foundation, where staff have been furloughed at the cost of a £4.5 million wage bill that he is funding from the reserves of his charity.

The furlough scheme was designed for employers to maintain jobs as they provide staff with 80 per cent of their earnings up to a cost of £2500 a month.

It is expected that nine million workers are now furloughed and is likely to cost the Exchequer £42 billion.

Most small businesses have been forced to use the scheme in order to keep staff, however, mega-rich individuals and lucrative companies that could cover the cost of paying workers have taken advantage of it.

Victoria Beckham launched her “money-losing” business back in 2008, and for the fourth year in a row, it has continued to not turn a profit.

In 11 years the company has seen a loss of £35.5 million, Ms Beckham is now said to be avoiding Instagram after the criticism.

For weeks the former Spice Girl, 46, has posted luxurious photos of herself in the family’s Cotswold estate during the lockdown.

View this post on Instagram

Family bike ride on my birthday x #Veebok

A post shared byVictoria Beckham (@victoriabeckham) on Apr 17, 2020 at 3:35am PDT

A spokesperson for the brand said: “Having carefully assessed all our options, we made the decision to furlough a proportion of staff on an enhanced package.”

She is not alone as entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson, 69, has also furloughed around 8000 workers, that will now be paid 80 per cent of their salaries for three months.

He is now said to be asking the government for a £500 million bailout to keep Virgin Atlantic afloat, after Virgin Australia last week went into administration.

His Virgin Empire has mostly been profitable, however recent events have caused the airline to make a loss.

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It has been reported that since moving to his private island in the British Virgin Island he has paid no income tax.

Daughter of Sir Paul McCartney, Stella McCartney has her own fashion line that is part-owned by LVMH who also own Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior and Veuve Clicquot.

Ms McCartney, 48, has furloughed up to 1400 staff which she is not topping up.

The designer currently resides in a £30 million house in Belgravia, as well as owning a farmhouse in Worcestershire and a property in The Hamptons.

On Twitter users of the site expressed their dismay at those who are using the scheme.

Multi-millionaire business owner Phillip Green, whose wife lives in tax haven Monaco is reported to have furloughed 14,500 of its 16,000 employees.

Mr Green owns struggling Arcadia group that saw Topshop and Topman lose a reported £500 million last year.

The tycoon worth a reported £1 billion has made senior staff take a pay cut of between 25-50 per cent.

The groups chief executive Ian Grabiner has elected to receive no salary or benefits till the pandemic ends.

Mr Grabiner said: “The actions we have taken are essential.”

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