Coronavirus (COVID-19)

[Inanimate Carbon Rod]

8 hours ago, craigkillie said:

I don't want to come across as all billy big-baws, but I would actually say I've got miles more disposable income now than I did before the pandemic. I'm not chucking as much money at trains, spending the £30-40 a week on lunches, cakes and the rest that I would when I was in the office, and had about a year of no holidays, no days out for the football, much less time in pubs and restaurants and so on.

I'm well aware that not everyone is in the same position as me, but I'd guess that a non-negligible number of folk are.

Im probably in the minority but because of the pandemic im even more each month, fuel prices up and all the rest. 

[Michael W]

11 hours ago, Clown Job said:

Sadly I do believe this

We’re leaving the Covid pandemic behind and walking into the self righteous pandemic 

I believe it about as much as I'd believe a Laurence Fox tweet about him being berated by someone for not wearing a mask. It's a fake sage drone desperately trying to stay relevant as their media appearances dry up. 

[Elixir]

The Scottish Government likes this.

Wonder if Sturgeon will be retweeting it? She certainly won't bother with the Nordic stuff - she only does that when it's bad.

[DeeTillEhDeh]

Actually I don't think that's remotely true at all TBH.
I think the majority of people are absolutely fine.
[mention=11624]craigkillie[/mention]covers some of the reasons why.
Most people can easily afford any increases in energy and food bills.
The problem is at the bottom of the financial earnings tree as usual and I have no ideas about how you solve that sustainably in the long term without causing rampant inflation.

Of course people are being hit from all sides.

A doubling of energy prices.

Rising motor fuel costs.

Rising interest rates.

An increase in National Insurance.

Rising food costs due to increased transport costs and Brexit shortages.

There's also the reality that some people have had significant drop in income - either because they lost their jobs, were furloughed, or lost income from businesses being locked down.

And there will be worse to come when they bring in more tax rises through the back door to pay for Covid.

The knock-on economic effect of Covid could last at least a decade or longer.

[Dawson Park Boy]

12 minutes ago, DeeTillEhDeh said:

Of course people are being hit from all sides.

A doubling of energy prices.

Rising motor fuel costs.

Rising interest rates.

An increase in National Insurance.

Rising food costs due to increased transport costs and Brexit shortages.

There's also the reality that some people have had significant drop in income - either because they lost their jobs, were furloughed, or lost income from businesses being locked down.

And there will be worse to come when they bring in more tax rises through the back door to pay for Covid.

The knock-on economic effect of Covid could last at least a decade or longer.

Also remember, from April Scottish taxpayers on £50k will be paying £1500 more per annum than their Southern neighbours.

[DeeTillEhDeh]

Also remember, from April Scottish taxpayers on £50k will be paying £1500 more per annum than their Southern neighbours.

That isn't new though.

[Michael W]

31 minutes ago, DeeTillEhDeh said:

Of course people are being hit from all sides.

A doubling of energy prices.

Rising motor fuel costs.

Rising interest rates.

An increase in National Insurance.

Rising food costs due to increased transport costs and Brexit shortages.

There's also the reality that some people have had significant drop in income - either because they lost their jobs, were furloughed, or lost income from businesses being locked down.

And there will be worse to come when they bring in more tax rises through the back door to pay for Covid.

The knock-on economic effect of Covid could last at least a decade or longer.

Agreed. Fuel and energy costs will hit just about everything - they are costs that simply cannot be avoided if you want to produce something and then move it to the people that want to buy it. As a result consumers pay more. 

In isolation an extra £10 on food a month might not cause harm to a lot of people (some of course will be impacted hard by that) but it's not isolated. Add on energy and suddenly that extra tenner is an extra £60 or so. The NI rise is salary dependent on how much it costs, but maybe an extra £10-£30 or something for most people. Suddenly you're £100 worse off and your local council wants more money from you as well. That's a bit of discretionary spending power removed, which causes follow on impact in society. 

I also don't think a lot of people realise how much Covid has screwed international trade. Costs were rising already due to container shortages before Covid hit, but the impact of various lockdown measures across.the globe has significantly worsened the situation. Reduced capacity at ports has exacerbated the shortages as containers took longer to unload and Vessels consequently waited longer - in addition to the resulting lack of availability this causes, the shipping lines also rack up additional fees when they're delayed in port. From a UK perspective there's additional costs also for customs declarations and vetinary checks on foodstuffs. 

[DeeTillEhDeh]

Agreed. Fuel and energy costs will hit just about everything - they are costs that simply cannot be avoided if you want to produce something and then move it to the people that want to buy it. As a result consumers pay more. 
In isolation an extra £10 on food a month might not cause harm to a lot of people (some of course will be impacted hard by that) but it's not isolated. Add on energy and suddenly that extra tenner is an extra £60 or so. The NI rise is salary dependent on how much it costs, but maybe an extra £10-£30 or something for most people. Suddenly you're £100 worse off and your local council wants more money from you as well. That's a bit of discretionary spending power removed, which causes follow on impact in society. 
I also don't think a lot of people realise how much Covid has screwed international trade. Costs were rising already due to container shortages before Covid hit, but the impact of various lockdown measures across.the globe has significantly worsened the situation. Reduced capacity at ports has exacerbated the shortages as containers took longer to unload and Vessels consequently waited longer - in addition to the resulting lack of availability this causes, the shipping lines also rack up additional fees when they're delayed in port. From a UK perspective there's additional costs also for customs declarations and vetinary checks on foodstuffs. 

The Suez blockage didn't help either.

[Bairnardo]

Allow me to give a wee example of someone I spoke to recently, because this is actually relevant to a lot of discussion had already on here and will apply to a lot of folk.
This person has had their contract changed to WFH, which broadly speaking, suits them. The workforce asked for an allowance towards heating and electricity used during work time. The employer said, na thats offset against the fact you have no commuting costs anymore.

Now leaving aside the wildly variable cost of commuting person to person, theres simply no way any but the most expensive of commutes stack up against an extra 40 hours p/w of heating and powering your home, which is now your workplace.

Has there been, or will there be, do we think, a test case for your home being subject to the same regulations as the workplace when yoy are WFH?

Im sure I read about a case where someone fell at home and successfully got it recorded as a workplace injury?

[Michael W]

1 minute ago, Bairnardo said:

Allow me to give a wee example of someone I spoke to recently, because this is actually relevant to a lot of discussion had already on here and will apply to a lot of folk.
This person has had their contract changed to WFH, which broadly speaking, suits them. The workforce asked for an allowance towards heating and electricity used during work time. The employer said, na thats offset against the fact you have no commuting costs anymore.

Now leaving aside the wildly variable cost of commuting person to person, theres simply no way any but the most expensive of commutes stack up against an extra 40 hours p/w of heating and powering your home, which is now your workplace.

Has there been, or will there be, do we think, a test case for your home being subject to the same regulations as the workplace when yoy are WFH?

Im sure I read about a case where someone fell at home and successfully got it recorded as a workplace injury?

If he can itemise the costs and apportion them he might be able to get tax relief on them. Failing that there's a flat rate £6 a week that he can claim. It's not much  especially as its worth is based on the rate of tax you pay (so £1.20 a week for a basic rate taxpayer) but it's better than nothing.

[Melanius Mullarkey]

3 minutes ago, Bairnardo said:

Im sure I read about a case where someone fell at home and successfully got it recorded as a workplace injury?

Careful, you'll need to be labelling all your mugs with "caution, contains hot drink" next and getting your kettle PA tested.

[Detournement]

3 minutes ago, Bairnardo said:

Has there been, or will there be, do we think, a test case for your home being subject to the same regulations as the workplace when yoy are WFH?

Would you be happy to allow your employer to inspect your home and allow them to make changes? Would people agree to only working in one specific room of their house?

The 'home' part of WFH is the giveaway. 

[Bairnardo]

Careful, you'll need to be labelling all your mugs with "caution, contains hot drink" next and getting your kettle PA tested.

Elf and safety gone mad innit

[Melanius Mullarkey]

1 minute ago, Bairnardo said:

3 minutes ago, Melanius Mullarkay said:

Careful, you'll need to be labelling all your mugs with "caution, contains hot drink" next and getting your kettle PA tested.

Elf and safety gone mad innit

"Please refrain from lighting fags from the hob as it may singe your eyebrows, again"

[Bairnardo]

2 minutes ago, Detournement said:

Would you be happy to allow your employer to inspect your home and allow them to make changes? Would people agree to only working in one specific room of their house?

The 'home' part of WFH is the giveaway. 

If I get my contract changed to have to work from my own living space, I certainly expect my employer to contribute to the additional costs incurred by me. 

[Left Back]

11 minutes ago, Bairnardo said:

Allow me to give a wee example of someone I spoke to recently, because this is actually relevant to a lot of discussion had already on here and will apply to a lot of folk.
This person has had their contract changed to WFH, which broadly speaking, suits them. The workforce asked for an allowance towards heating and electricity used during work time. The employer said, na thats offset against the fact you have no commuting costs anymore.

Now leaving aside the wildly variable cost of commuting person to person, theres simply no way any but the most expensive of commutes stack up against an extra 40 hours p/w of heating and powering your home, which is now your workplace.

Has there been, or will there be, do we think, a test case for your home being subject to the same regulations as the workplace when yoy are WFH?

Im sure I read about a case where someone fell at home and successfully got it recorded as a workplace injury?

Regardless of where you actually work your employer is still responsible for your health & safety.

[sophia]

3 minutes ago, Left Back said:

Regardless of where you actually work your employer is still responsible for your health & safety.

^^^ Not wholly correct 

[DeeTillEhDeh]

Allow me to give a wee example of someone I spoke to recently, because this is actually relevant to a lot of discussion had already on here and will apply to a lot of folk.
This person has had their contract changed to WFH, which broadly speaking, suits them. The workforce asked for an allowance towards heating and electricity used during work time. The employer said, na thats offset against the fact you have no commuting costs anymore.

Now leaving aside the wildly variable cost of commuting person to person, theres simply no way any but the most expensive of commutes stack up against an extra 40 hours p/w of heating and powering your home, which is now your workplace.

Has there been, or will there be, do we think, a test case for your home being subject to the same regulations as the workplace when yoy are WFH?

Im sure I read about a case where someone fell at home and successfully got it recorded as a workplace injury?

We used significantly more energy last year simply because of the January to February lockdown - heating, lighting etc on when we would normally be out.

In terms of commuting I use a car but that wasn't much lower as I still had to pay the other running costs like MOT, insurance and repairs - and was still commuting at least once a week for the hub plus the usual shopping runs - lucky if I was any more than a tenner a week better off from that. Getting back £1.20 a week in rax relief was pretty irrelevant. I'd also suspect that people spent more than usual on alcohol and takeaways - not to mention the DIY boom.

As you say - it will be different for each individual - and even those who saved last year, for example, not going on holidays, will now notice the squeeze on disposable income. Talking of holidays - the cost for some has just shot through the roof - a combination of higher fuel prices, limited destinations, and travel firms trying to claw money back - not to mention much higher travel insurance.

Just glad that we paid off our mortgage this year - others may be less fortunate and struggling with overstretched budgets. Some of that will be self-inflicted - taking on too high a mortgage pre-Covid. It's those situations, with rising interest rates that would be a big concern.

[Detournement]

23 minutes ago, Bairnardo said:

If I get my contract changed to have to work from my own living space, I certainly expect my employer to contribute to the additional costs incurred by me. 

Sadly having your contract changed to worse pay and conditions is the new normal. Fire and rehire. Millions of people have already been fucked by it. 

[Shipa]

Another potential issue with long-term WFH is insurance. I recall home insurers saying at the start that there was no need to advise them if you were WFH temporarily, but imagine that will change if your house becomes your permanent, primary place of employment.