A MULTI-millionaire YouTube star is claiming thousands of pounds from the government to pay her office staff, it has been reported.

Internet sensation Zoella, who lives in Sussex, is allegedly using the furlough scheme to pay her office manager, despite landing several multi-million-pound deals during lockdown.

Zoe Sugg has signed 'mega-deals' to promote BMW, GHD, Etsy and Spotify but placed £25,000-a-year manager Holly Macey on the state bail-out programme, according to the MailOnline.

Holly is reported to be the only one of the vlogger’s six-strong Brighton team to have been on furlough, it is thought the others, including a creative manager, social media manager and advertising manager are self-employed.

According to an insider, Holly's role within her team is to take care of tasks such as organising parties and events for Zoella and her team as well as wrapping presents and taking pet pug Nala out on walks.

Zoella's agent Maddie Chester of Gleam Futures told MailOnline: “I can confirm that the A-Z office manager Holly Macey has benefited from the government furlough scheme due to the A-Z office being shut since mid-March.

“Zoe and Holly are very good friends and do a lot of activities outside of work such as pumpkin picking yesterday.”

Tory MP Andrew Bridgen slammed Zoella’s use of the furlough scheme as ‘outrageous’ and called for an investigation.

He said: "This was an emergency government use of taxpayers’ money to help businesses in trouble during the pandemic.

"It seems very odd to me that a company which operates online should have made this claim as online businesses have done very well during lockdown.

"I would expect the department concerned to take a close look at the circumstances and if there’s been any kind of work done by this employee, the money should be paid back."

According to the MailOnline, Zoella charges £20,000 for a sponsored post on Instagram.

On Youtube, the star can fetch up to £25,000 from ad placing on her pop channel, where she has 16m subscribers.

John O'Connell, from the TaxPayers' Alliance said: “It is understandable that some businesses furloughed staff unnecessarily given the unprecedented circumstances of the past year.

"'However, lockdown had a massive impact upon the economy and now every penny really does count. Some businesses have repaid the support offered to them by taxpayers.

"They should serve as an example for other firms that have come through the past year in rude health.

"Taxpayers will likely have long memories of those that helped in the national effort and those that didn’t."