Anyone furloughed from work?

[justin44]

I’m in the dental industry so pretty much every practice is closed except for emergencies, it looks like it’s going to mean I either get made redundant or furloughed, don’t get me wrong I’ll be able to live on the reduced income, few less luxuries and tighten my belt a bit but I’ll come out the other side.

I’ve been speaking to a few dental nurses who will only get 80% salary and they are panicking, credit cards, rent and the biggest worry car loans, but the ones worried more are the more qualified therapists, these are on £45-60k so for them it’s not 80% pay it’s the max £2,500.

I once helped at a food bank and couldn’t get my head around a lady who pulled up in a 6 month old 5 series BMW saying she could afford food, now I understand.

[Paradiddle]

Thankfully I'm still working from home full-time but a friend of mine in the automotive industry has been furloughed at least for this week. No news yet if it will be extended and what impact it would have on their pay if it does get extended.

Another friend is in an office job and his boss is considering doing the 80% pay for furloughed workers as well as taking the business loan. However they've been having trouble finding the details for these schemes.

[murkeywaters]

Without getting too in depth about it, lots and I mean lots of people in this country are basically crap with money, their lured into a false sense of security with reasonable wages every month and try to live a champagne lifestyle on cider money.

Back in the 80's/90's you often heard of people saying I have a rainy day savings account, this was because aspirations and peer pressure were a lot less and people knew their level of living, now you have wealth and success thrown at us via multiple outlets like television, social media, news.. the list goes on and people want that lifestyle and look, well this is a big wake up call to all those fake lifestyles and hopefully it will give them some insight to the real world..

[100thmonkey]

Without getting too in depth about it, lots and I mean lots of people in this country are basically crap with money, their lured into a false sense of security with reasonable wages every month and try to live a champagne lifestyle on cider money.

Back in the 80's/90's you often heard of people saying I have a rainy day savings account, this was because aspirations and peer pressure were a lot less and people knew their level of living, now you have wealth and success thrown at us via multiple outlets like television, social media, news.. the list goes on and people want that lifestyle and look, well this is a big wake up call to all those fake lifestyles and hopefully it will give them some insight to the real world..

Agree, too many people trying to be billy big balls with materiel things they don’t really own fluffing themselves up. They are now concerned and rightly so as the lifestyle they built so falsely meets reality

[trident-7]

Yes most of the dental nurses where I work will be furloughed I expect. There's nothing to do at work. Nothing that brings any money in at least. Yesterday I phoned patients who had called in with emergencies. We didn't see any of them because there's nothing we can do for them. We can't use anything which creates an aerosol. We don't have the correct personal protective equipment & we can't get any. There's no central referral pathway to send patients to. The local health authority are telling us to do what we can.

The Chief Dental Officer for England has apparently gone off sick with stress.

One of the patients who I phoned yesterday said he had a brand new FFP3 mask in his garage that I could have if I sorted his lost filling out. I'm considering it.

Some of our dentists are being verbally abused by patients because they are expecting to be seen. None of the people that I phoned were like that with me though.

The practice owners are desperately trying to find a way to survive with no income & lots of outgoings. The poor girls at work have nothing put by to live on. They don't get paid much and they spend everything they earn every month. One of them said the other day 'oh well, it's only for 3 weeks...'

The dentists aren't getting paid anything at all but at least we've got money in the bank by & large.

Yesterday I emptied my locker and took most of my personal possessions home just in case it's my last week.

[hafle]

Chef, so yes. unfortunately, I recently had my contract revised to allow me the time off for some exam revision, so will only be getting 3/5 of my pay, minus 20%. But something is better than nothing, and my circumstances mean that I'll get by, so overall I've no grounds to complain. I do not buy anything on credit, so I've no worries regarding keeping up with any payments.

[luckyhands]

Are you NHS or private? Or mix?

Depending on your practice set up, you "might" be OK if they decide to take the NHSE's offer to redeploy you. It would only make sense for a practice that is largely NHS to do though as, from what I've read, it implies ALL staff need to redeploy. Not good for a practice whose income isn't largely NHS as you're giving away your "private" staff resources too.

Yes most of the dental nurses where I work will be furloughed I expect. There's nothing to do at work. Nothing that brings any money in at least. Yesterday I phoned patients who had called in with emergencies. We didn't see any of them because there's nothing we can do for them. We can't use anything which creates an aerosol. We don't have the correct personal protective equipment & we can't get any. There's no central referral pathway to send patients to. The local health authority are telling us to do what we can.

The Chief Dental Officer for England has apparently gone off sick with stress.

One of the patients who I phoned yesterday said he had a brand new FFP3 mask in his garage that I could have if I sorted his lost filling out. I'm considering it.

Some of our dentists are being verbally abused by patients because they are expecting to be seen. None of the people that I phoned were like that with me though.

The practice owners are desperately trying to find a way to survive with no income & lots of outgoings. The poor girls at work have nothing put by to live on. They don't get paid much and they spend everything they earn every month. One of them said the other day 'oh well, it's only for 3 weeks...'

The dentists aren't getting paid anything at all but at least we've got money in the bank by & large.

Yesterday I emptied my locker and took most of my personal possessions home just in case it's my last week.

[trident-7]

Are you NHS or private? Or mix?

Depending on your practice set up, you "might" be OK if they decide to take the NHSE's offer to redeploy you. It would only make sense for a practice that is largely NHS to do though as, from what I've read, it implies ALL staff need to redeploy. Not good for a practice whose income isn't largely NHS as you're giving away your "private" staff resources too.

We're only about 10% NHS. So if what you say is the correct interpretation there would be no incentive to redeploy. We'd be having to do the same as a 100% NHS practice for 10% of the remuneration. It wouldn't pay anywhere near the girls' wages even.

I'm expecting my working days to be over to be honest. Anything else is a bonus.

I feel bad for one of my colleagues who left 6 months ago having bought a dental practice. He told me tonight that he thought he could hold out for 3 months then he's done.

[boundary546]

We are looking into this now for our staff. It seems that the HMRC Portal where you have to register each furloughed worker won't be live until April. The employer pays the 80% of salary and will then be reimbursed by HMRC at some time in the future, rumour is it will be August before that money is received.
So, we are a smallish family business with a weekly payroll, based on 80%, of £15,000. Say this goes on for lets say 8 weeks the company will need to find £120,000 to pay out with no money back for 5 months !
Luckily our owner is very generous and has today put £100,000 of his own money into the business account to cover this. If it goes on for more than 8 weeks (which lets face it there is a strong possibility) I think we're all in trouble !
I will suffer as 2 years ago i opted out of my company car and bought my own, my business mileage covers my repayments, but with no business miles I will be out £600 per month. Luckily, as mentioned earlier, i have always saved for that "rainy day", but still not nice seeing savings going down when you've worked hard over the years for it.
Stay safe everyone

[luckyhands]

If he needs any help, let me know. I can share my calculations and my immediate actions. Best wishes.

We're only about 10% NHS. So if what you say is the correct interpretation there would be no incentive to redeploy. We'd be having to do the same as a 100% NHS practice for 10% of the remuneration. It wouldn't pay anywhere near the girls' wages even.

I'm expecting my working days to be over to be honest. Anything else is a bonus.

I feel bad for one of my colleagues who left 6 months ago having bought a dental practice. He told me tonight that he thought he could hold out for 3 months then he's done.

[Suds]

My daughter in London hasn't been furloughed, but staff have been asked to take a 20% salary cut for 3 months.

[Essexman]

Not furloughed, share price dropped, this years pay rise retracted (without warning), and everyone asked to take two weeks unpaid leave over the next two months.

[justin44]

My daughter in London hasn't been furloughed, but staff have been asked to take a 20% salary cut for 3 months.

Hang on, so they get 80% of their salary and the company is paying them that. The company could furlough them for 1 month then pay them 100% as normal, they could even make up the 20% for the furloughed month.

[Der Amf]

People not in trouble using a thread for people who are in trouble to show off how they're not in trouble? Niiiiiice

[Passenger]

People not in trouble using a thread for people who are in trouble to show off how they're not in trouble? Niiiiiice

The interesting, larger issue is the extent to which the whole model of economic growth had become underpinned by this behaviour of 'faking it until you make it' and irresponsibility.

[Matdaytona]

I finished my previous role on the 12/02/2020 as I had been paid my leave entitlement and started my new role on the 09/03/2020 and have been told that I cannot go on the Furlough scheme which could put my job at risk. So I really don't know how it turns out in the end. I've even started looking for a new job as a fallback

As I understand it you can go to your previous employer and ask them to furlough you even though you have left their employment it is at your previous employers discretion if they do so

[Passenger]

Foundations of sand.

[snowman]

I'm supposedly still working, but the work (IT) is thin on the ground as IT departments concentrate on getting their staff working from home.

I work as a freelancer, through an umbrella company, so I've no idea how or what I might get as 'furlough' pay - I'm 'technically' a PAYE employee, but, I guess, am really a zero-hours contract worker...

My wife, however, has been 'furloughed' - She's a dispensing optician and they're shut except for opthalmic emergencies (not sure exacty what that is, but it doesn't include fixing or fitting specs).

As she only works part time, she'll be getting 80% of her pay (I thought initially the idea was the government/tax payer pays 80% and the employers top it up to full pay?), but it's better than nothing.

M

[R0bertb00th]

I run a recruitment and consultancy business and there is lots employers can do YET in my experience many arent aware what they can and can't do and have opted to lay staff off.

I wrote a blog about 2 weeks ago that had our 7000 views - its amazing how little knowledge there is despite it being readily available in the public domain.

YOU CAN BE RE-INSTATED IF YOU WAS ON THE PAYROLL ON 28th FEB

show your employer this link

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/co...rloughNTKs.pdf

If your employer refusing furlough as it doesn't have the cash flow which is a topic that Ive seen raised loads and have instead opted for redundancies then:

You can agree to delayed pay and its best to negotiate directly with your employer, The Gov will cover furloughed employees' salaries from March to May.

Im happy to assist anyone who is struggling with this and there employer as ultimately it could be a client for me so Im happy to assist where possible

[Mj2k]

Robert, very kind of you. Sis in law was made redundant pre-Covid, but not sure on the dates yet.

That article from MSE you linked to could be very useful, as she was the main earner & have a 1yr old child with hubby being a police officer.

I may be in touch with you later after gaining more of an understanding of the timings etc. I believe from my wife that she has already received some redundancy pay, does that change things?

Matt

[Kingstepper]

I run a recruitment and consultancy business and there is lots employers can do YET in my experience many arent aware what they can and can't do and have opted to lay staff off.

I wrote a blog about 2 weeks ago that had our 7000 views - its amazing how little knowledge there is despite it being readily available in the public domain.

YOU CAN BE RE-INSTATED IF YOU WAS ON THE PAYROLL ON 28th FEB

show your employer this link

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/co...rloughNTKs.pdf

If your employer refusing furlough as it doesn't have the cash flow which is a topic that Ive seen raised loads and have instead opted for redundancies then:

You can agree to delayed pay and its best to negotiate directly with your employer, The Gov will cover furloughed employees' salaries from March to May.

Im happy to assist anyone who is struggling with this and there employer as ultimately it could be a client for me so Im happy to assist where possible

Seems like a licence for abuse - someone takes a new job but is still being paid by furlough from their old employer.

[mondie]

We had to furlough half of our staff a few weeks back so I feel sorry for anybody who has been furloughed, it can create anxiety and potential for ill-feeling in any team. The firm who provides all of our HR expertise has just passed on this update on the furlough legislation as they currently understand it. I find it pretty ridiculous how the specifics of the scheme are only being advised piecemeal. Its been many weeks and the basic mechanisisms should be well known so both employers and employees know exactly how the scheme applies.

The need for a written agreement should be self-evident to any well organised firm, however, the part I in bold will come as a surprise to many. I hope this doesn't alarm anybody but it seemed sensible to make people aware so they know how this may affect their specific situaion.


On 15 April 2020, the government issued a Statutory Direction setting out requirements for the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, also known as furlough leave. We believe this takes precedence over the government guidance, which was also updated on 15 April.

There are some important points to note. We’ll provide a more detailed update shortly, but for now there are two urgent points to bring to your attention.

The first is the requirement for there to be a written agreement from both employer and employee to be furloughed. This contrasts with the current online guidance, which simply says “To be eligible for the grant employers must confirm in writing to their employee confirming that they have been furloughed. A record of this communication must be kept for five years.”

The second point is likely to be even more problematic. A lot of employers have placed employees on furlough and not continued to pay them until such time as HMRC paid the grant under the scheme, which would then be passed on to employees. There are obvious reasons why an employer may do this in the current circumstances and there was, and is, nothing in the online guidance to suggest this is not allowed. However, the new Direction seems to suggest that you can only recover monies from HMRC that have already been paid – effectively the grant amounts to a reimbursement of monies paid. The requirements appear to be as follows:

• If between 1 March and 18 April there has been a period in which an employee has been furloughed and you have not paid the employee what they would get under the scheme, you will have to make up the pay they would be due under the scheme for that period BEFORE you make a claim.
• For any period after 18 April, if you have not paid an employee what they would get under the scheme while they are furloughed, you will not be able to make that pay up later and, therefore, you cannot be reimbursed by HMRC for that period. Effectively, we think this means that if you continue to not pay employees 80% of their salary (subject to the £2,500 p/m cap), you will not get money from HMRC.

It’s important to also note that this Direction can be changed at any time by the government – we suspect it probably won’t be changed before the proposed introduction of the scheme, which is due to go live on 20 April 2020.

[Alansmithee]

A lot of employers have placed employees on furlough and not continued to pay them until such time as HMRC paid the grant under the scheme, which would then be passed on to employees. There are obvious reasons why an employer may do this in the current circumstances and there was, and is, nothing in the online guidance to suggest this is not allowed.

The guidance does not provide it is a problem in regards to the grant but the wider problem is that regardless of the furlough depending on how your contract is worded this likely a breach...

[valleywatch]

I drive a train...so Im still in work...

Must say though, where I am, by and large, the number of passengers is wayyyyyyy down! Saying that though? I see a few people getting on the train (I drive local suburban type trains)..who ..to me anyway! dont look like they are going to work, and are a key worker, or are using the train as "essential travel"?...but what do I know!?
are not going to work....what can you do?

My daughter works in a nursery...she has been furloughed...she is a bit of a worrier at the best of times..so this wasnt welcome news to her...In all fairness...she is on a rubbish wage anyway...so losing 20% off not a lot...isnt much ( the way I look at it...as Im reasonably well paid and take care of her).........For others though...for many many others, losing their jobs, getting furloughed etc..it must be terrible.. Maybe this is their only source of income...and they have nobody/no back up family/ or money to help them through these terrible times.

I assume, lots on this forum, are relatively wealthy, and with little or no money worries...

Ther are many many many, though , (outside of this forum) for WHATEVER reason, literally live pay check to paycheck...these are the people I massively feel for...............

I am nearing retirement...In fact! I was going to hand my notice in around this time, then finish in June...spend September to December
in Thailand then home to see my daughter for Christmas...then back to Thailand in January until April...this isnt going to happen now! For one....my pension will be less than what I was expecting. (Im on a final salary pension..so I "think"! my yearly pension will be more or less the same...but my lump sum will be reduced?)...........Ive been looking forward/planning this retirement for a fair few years now...i "thought" I would be "gutted"..to see my plans postponed..(not just monetary reasons...but also not "probably"! being able to travel overseas for the forseeable future).............Im quite surprised Ive just "accepted" it...there are way more important things to think about now!

[Devonian]

I’m wondering if people are being furloughed can the employer top up the 20% out of their pocket to help the employee out? I’ve been asked this by a few people so emailed my Accountant. Not heard back yet. Think he’s snowed under with .... furlough queries.

[kungfupanda]

I’m wondering if people are being furloughed can the employer top up the 20% out of their pocket to help the employee out? I’ve been asked this by a few people so emailed my Accountant. Not heard back yet. Think he’s snowed under with .... furlough queries.

Yes employers can indeed top up the 80% with a further 20%. There’s no requirement to do so but they’re free to if they want.

[Griswold]

I’m wondering if people are being furloughed can the employer top up the 20% out of their pocket to help the employee out? I’ve been asked this by a few people so emailed my Accountant. Not heard back yet. Think he’s snowed under with .... furlough queries.

From my accountant....

Corona job retention scheme – HMRC will set up a new online portal so all UK businesses regardless of size will be eligible for assistance where an employee has been designated as a furloughed worker. HMRC will reimburse 80% of furloughed workers wages up to a cap of 2.5K per month, the current plan is that this will be in place for 3 months at which point it will be reviewed. This will be backdated to 1^st March 2020. Employers must set out which of their employees are furloughed workers and inform the particular employees. Furlough is the equivalent of lay off so you can lay staff off and continue to pay them and recover 80% of that cost up to 30K per anum. The employer is entitled to make up the difference if they so wish, we do understand that during this time the employee is considered a remaining employee.

HTH

Edited to say that the last sentence is very important as it effects length of service, which may become relevant further down the line for e.g. redundancy payment or pension calculations.

[Essexman]

Waiting to hear from HR. I work in engineering, site is still open and making products. Our pay rise from a couple weeks back has just been taken back, and we have been asked to take two weeks off without pay. Not sure if they are going to use the gov 80%, it would appear that the company have to keep everyone on if they use the Gov scheme, so I guess they plan to slim down the staff numbers, or keep an option to do so.
It's all a bit poo right now.

[Devonian]

Yes employers can indeed top up the 80% with a further 20%. There’s no requirement to do so but they’re free to if they want.

From my accountant....



HTH

Edited to say that the last sentence is very important as it effects length of service, which may become relevant further down the line for e.g. redundancy payment or pension calculations.

Thanks all :-)

[Suds]

Wonder if the government is worried some businesses will receive money and then fold before paying it over to employees? (Or banks may swallow it to recover some overdraft)

[mondie]

Could be Suds, but if the lawyers interpretation of the Gov's intentions proves correct I smell trouble coming.

[P9CLY]

I’m wondering if people are being furloughed can the employer top up the 20% out of their pocket to help the employee out? I’ve been asked this by a few people so emailed my Accountant. Not heard back yet. Think he’s snowed under with .... furlough queries.

As an aircraft Fueller on a zero hour contract,the emails from the company just talk about its full time employees!.My manager said any money I "may" get will be based on the last two months!,as the winter months are very very very quiet I've probably worked two maybe three days in that time so not much for me to look forward to,let alone the employer making up the 20%!.

Everything is still very unclear!.I have several self employed mates that I know for a fact are financially secure,and so the package for the self employed isn't going to be quite a fair one in that respect,not an easy situation at all for anyone's situation tbh.

As they keep bleating on.....unprecedented times,and we're all in it together,just as we weren't back in 2008!.

[Matdaytona]

Put all 65 staff on the 80% scheme only issue is we have to pay and then claim back which is fine for now but if carries on too long will run out of cash before the government repays us may have to go for the guaranteed loan for the immediate as more info on that the email from my account manager was basically have to wait my turn as massive uptake on all offerings

[lenlec]

What about one man band limited companies ? I don’t get paid via p a y e. Just a dividend at year end if I’ve made a profit
How do I get the 80% ?
Andy

[Pete D]

I’m wondering if people are being furloughed can the employer top up the 20% out of their pocket to help the employee out? I’ve been asked this by a few people so emailed my Accountant. Not heard back yet. Think he’s snowed under with .... furlough queries.

I run a small business. We are topping up our staff wages to 100%, whilst we still have money in our account to do so. However, there will be a limit on that goodwill, as we still have rent and bills to pay; wouldn’t make sense to be so generous that our business failed, as then the staff would lose their jobs.

It’s a fine balance.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Metalic Mud]

Googled it.
Due to some stupid Russian at my place of work joking that a flat mate has the virus.
I find myself and everyone else from work have all been furloughed this morning.

[Pitfitter]

Googled it.
Due to some stupid Russian at my place of work joking that a flat mate has the virus.
I find myself and everyone else from work have all been furloughed this morning.

Will he be welcome back when it's over?

[R0bertb00th]

Lots of info about this subject and I expect to be the norm but there is LOADS of info bout here via Martin Lewis who will explain it much better than I can

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/latesttip/

2) EMPLOYEES. Can't go to work or have no work to do? Ask your employer to 'furlough' you and Govt will cover 80% of your salary up to £2,500/mth. This is officially called the Coronavirus Job Retention scheme, and it means employers can choose to put staff who can't work on 'furlough' (on hold) - and then the Govt will cover their salary.

Think of this like a job being put on standby. The idea is you go into sleeper mode during the crisis, and then when it's over, they can instantly restart things and get the economy running again at speed.

It's up to employers to decide and define who is furloughed. It could be because you've no work to do (eg, you work in a closed restaurant), or as you have to be at home to look after children or you're self-isolating.

The key thing to understand is the state is looking to support people. It wants this to be a broad sweep of support to gather people up. It's looking to embrace people who need it, not loophole them out. See our employee furlough info, including my 5min video briefing.

[adrianw]

if most of the customers have gone home then there is no point staying open, I will do it shortly, obviously we will top up.

One very dirty trick companies especially automotive are playing, is take in deliveries then close and not pay invoices, saying accounts payable or treasury have gone.

[Omegamanic]

Unfortunately the Isle of Man will only pay employers, in certain industries, £280 per week per employee, or an employee made redundant because of Covid19 £200 per week for a max of 12 weeks.

As the dental practices are closing to all but emergency care, MS O was given 1 week’s notice yesterday (fairly late in the evening by text!), and will have to apply for £200.

I’m fairly sure my clients are going to be feeling the strain over the coming weeks too, so do not see my own positions as being that secure.

I doubt there are many people in the UK that would be secure, with a potential loss of income, loss on investments, and corresponding drop in value of any luxury assets. I’m just not convinced the majority of people are walking away unscathed in some way, unless they are on a guaranteed retirement income.

[NikGixer750]

I am in the process of offering all my guys (5 people) in the factory a furloughed contract, 80% without us topping up. We simply do not have the work at the moment, the showroom is shut as are most of our clients. I also do not want to lose the workforce in the long-run. The owner initially wanted to make redundancies which made no sense to me when the staff are happy to take 80% to sit at home for a period of time to protect their jobs and protect the business.

The hard part is the government has released no information at all about any clauses, T&C, what you need to do to qualify etc, the website just says anyone on PAYE can take it. Which could end up being a lot of people, I cant see why any business would not use it. Cuts overheads massively and the employees are looked after, it is a win-win.

We will all pay for this in the long run as the government will have to pay all this back at some point in the form of higher taxes etc but that's a problem for another day.

[justin44]

My memory is Bit vague but I went on a field trip to a company in Belgium once (30 years ago) there they had a thing called “Econmical unemployment” basically if a company had no work the staff we made “unemployed” and the government paid their wages. We all said wow that’s great, until they told us how much tax they all pay to cover the cost.

I guess it’ll be the same here all this 80% has to come from somewhere.....

[ryanb741]

Nothing to add other than I hope those of you affected get a quick resolution and the businesses pull through

[bloater]

Just learnt a mate who struggles to make ends meet has just been put on thurlough, at the same time his partners overtime has been stopped, she had been part time but making the hours up to a full time role for the last few years.

Myself I'll be okay I work part time but had a promotion recently and the company I work for tick several of the essential business boxes, and with shoppers currently shopping locally we are fairing better than expected, although I've sat down with the owner and we have discussed thurlough and decided it's an option if we drop trade. Our main issue at the moment is lack of stock from supplier's.
My wife works for the NHS so she's safe, and as the main earner in our house that is reassuring.

Sent from my VOG-L29 using Tapatalk

[Mj2k]

^ that is great to hear an owner taking that sort of stance. From a morale perspective it must feel great for his employees. I just hope it all works out for you all. Good luck.

[R0bertb00th]

I’m a ltd company and pay myself minimum wage and take dividends I’ve been advised that in order to qualify for the retention scheme you have to cease trading as a consequence of covid 19 and have minutes to that effect from a board meeting written down

Makes sense to me but also means I’m right up **** creek hey ho it’s only money and right now I’m
Looking at the bigger picture

[deanlad]

Im all finished up now...30 years in the game and the last job i carried out today was cutting a lawn and a bit of tidying for £40 that i haven't been
transferred over yet.
Not sure what the future holds for me. Im considering IVA, or bankruptcy. When all this is over, i cant see many people phoning me up asking for a new patio, or their garden landscaped. Although people can be fickle and forget about things after a week or two, cant help thinking so many people will be in dire straits after this, or completely rethinking their spending habits in the future....

[ryanb741]

Im all finished up now...30 years in the game and the last job i carried out today was cutting a lawn and a bit of tidying for £40 that i haven't been
transferred over yet.
Not sure what the future holds for me. Im considering IVA, or bankruptcy. When all this is over, i cant see many people phoning me up asking for a new patio, or their garden landscaped. Although people can be fickle and forget about things after a week or two, cant help thinking so many people will be in dire straits after this, or completely rethinking their spending habits in the future....

I'm sorry to hear this. For what it is worth there are so many people in or about to be in this situation (and I could be just as easily) that I suspect the consequences of not being able to meet commitments won't be as severe as they might otherwise have been. I have a feeling so much debt will be uncollectable that the government will write it off by funding the banks. So you aren't alone and I hope it works out - I did see on the BBC a list of companies with large hiring needs now so maybe that might be useful. Take care

[R0bertb00th]

Im all finished up now...30 years in the game and the last job i carried out today was cutting a lawn and a bit of tidying for £40 that i haven't been
transferred over yet.
Not sure what the future holds for me. Im considering IVA, or bankruptcy. When all this is over, i cant see many people phoning me up asking for a new patio, or their garden landscaped. Although people can be fickle and forget about things after a week or two, cant help thinking so many people will be in dire straits after this, or completely rethinking their spending habits in the future....

Chin up pal, you aren’t alone in this and you have your health I hope

I personally think Ryan is correct and a lot will have to be written off as the downturn of the economy will have a massive impact and no doubt fallout irnit isn’t addressed mental health etc....

It’s a big eye opener all of this, isn’t it

We are finally realising money has no value.

Your amazing job is no longer an amazing job, your expensive clothes now have no worth and no one gives a shit how you look anymore.

Your big house is just 4 empty walls like everyone else’s.

Your nice car is running on 4 tyres, the same as everyone else’s.

We are finally seeing who the important people are, the ones who make a difference to our lives and are doing the crucial jobs we need.

Shop workers ✔️
Care workers ✔️
NHS staff ✔️
Emergency services ✔️
Farmers ✔️
Teachers ✔️
Lorry drivers/delivery people ✔️
Cleaners ✔️
Refuse workers ✔️

These people are the ones who keep our country ticking over, the core of our daily lives, the people who regularly go unnoticed and are often frowned upon but keep working hard, generally on a low income.
People constantly look down on them and gloat that they earn more money than them.


I’m proud of all of these people, they don’t earn enough for what they do, and they’re never appreciated for what they contribute and this episode will open all of our eyes to that fact

[julian2002]

It's all gone a bit Fight Club? (nsfw - if anyone is in work - sweary etc..)