Why isn't work paid better?

Housing is now treated as a financialised asset,

Everything is treated as a commodity. My health, your kids, next doors dog. It's what we wanted, it's what we got.

Yes, private sector pay has fallen behind the public sector.

Wages in the UK are a disgrace.

But don't be fooled and think those who work in the private sector are well rewarded....they can often pay even worse than the public sector depending on the role.

I'm a sahm but occasionally look at job adverts in case anything catches my eye. It's absolutely appalling...a basic admin job paid £25k in 2005 in London. A basic admin job in 2025 still pays £25k. And 9-5 doesn't exist anymore....many jobs expect 8.30-6 or 9-6...it's a joke.

I've even seen jobs which pay minimum wage have the cheek to describe it as a competitive salary😂

I'm with you, there is a strong message, pushed by the unions and the media, that public sector workers like teachers, nurses etc are poorly paid, when actually that is not the issue at all. Our pay is pretty reasonable (As a physio i am on same pay scale as nurses, after 5 years was a band 7 which is well over 50k), our annual leave is good (I get 7 weeks a year plus bank holidays) a weeks paid carers leave, good pension and generally there is quite a bit of flexibility in hours for a good work life balance, especially if commuinity based.
The issue is mainly how we are treated - workload, abusive patients/badly behaved pupils, not the finances.

So you think somebody should be able to buy a property on one NWM income?

Public services pay - that is largely down to the last government.

Pay in general - employers pay what they can get away with. It's a market economy. The tax system is skewed in favour of the rich. The personal allowance has been frozen since 2021 so, although the minimum wage has gone up significantly , tax is becoming more significant for those on lower wages.

You think a 10 to15% return on investment for a business is excessive?

exactly this. I thought the same about Amazon telling their workers that can’t afford pay rises but then at same time posting record profits. I do wonder how many people who work at Tesco recieve top up benefits?

It would, but I think there should be some mechanism for seizing long term empty properties and no one should be able to buy a house that isn't their primary residence, Too many empty investment properties just sit....
Yes, I know I'm an impractical dreamer.

And all those companies are making massive profits.

Not sure about that. I think we are wealthy enough but the wealth has been unevenly distributed.

Yep

That’s quite a leap to make. There would still be some private landlords.

I’m not sure what you suggest is workable as most of the properties would need huge amounts of work which wouldn’t be practical or affordable. Plus it wouldn’t increase the amount of property.

It truly would be easier to build new flats for people to live in, if you want to increase social housing.

U.K. wages are low (relative to the cost of living) compared to many countries. They are propped up by high income taxes on the small percentage of higher earners and then paid to the lower earners in the form of tax credits and other state benefits, protecting the profits of business owners. The system is pretty broken.

Presumably if you want to abolish it you want to get rid of landlordism all together? If so, then we're in agreement!
I'd much prefer properties being rented by HB recipients to be compulsory purchased by councils and turned into social housing for those same people. It would amount to a proper reversal of one of the most harmful aspects of Thatcherism.

Housing benefit is a massive distortion, that it doesn’t cover 100% of rent is a detail. It still pushes rent up and means people who don’t get housing benefit can’t afford to rent. While giving £££££ to politicians and their cronies.

There isn't a simple explanation OP.

Imagine yourself the owner of a shop. You need to buy stock, sell it to make a profit, pay business expenses (rent, utilities), pay staff and pay yourself enough to cover your needs.

Get juggling when the costs of buying stock rockets, as do utilities and rents, your mortgage and food bills rise as do your staff who naturally demand a pay rise.

Meanwhile because everyone is struggling people start cutting back on buying your products.

Do you see how non simple it is?

We have finite resources.

It’s really quite odd to me that at a time when we have a housing crisis we are still replacing flats with houses, and reducing the number of people who can be housed as a result. In most countries people live as a default in flats, it is normal in London. So why not elsewhere in the U.K.?

Wages are fine, everything else is too expensive. I'd be very happy on my wage 10-15 years ago

Housing benefit doesn't cover rent in the vast majority of areas of the UK, and under 35s (who are the least likely to own and the most likely to be struggling with housing costs) aren't eligible for it at all, so I think it's unlikely that is the cause of the problem.

Part of the housing issue is the significant increase in single adult houses. More people live or want to live on their own and as more and more families spilt up this doubles the housing needs of each family. People are also wanting bigger houses with spare rooms, studies etc. And semi detached or detached.

Overall peoples expectations for what a good standard of living means have increased massively. Which isn't on it's own a bad thing but it mean that when this isn't possible people are discontented. For example when my parents married and had their first child they lived in a rented two bedroom 4th floor flat, with all second hand furniture. Nowadays that would be seen as struggling but to them it was a step up from what many of their peers had to start their families in..

This is a common misconception but it's incorrect. Pension funds and insurance combined own about 4% of UK shares today. Most are owned by overseas investors, predominantly ultra high net worth individuals.

People with more money who.purchased buy to let or second homes helped force up property prices. Gaining huge amounts of income from rentals. The tenants will never be able to buy. High rents will large amounts paid for on housing benefit also pushes up benefit payments ...

That’s still demand and supply. Buy to letters are still demanding property.

The factors are:

• not enough property to meet demand
• the market being distorted by housing benefit. Meaning people can buy houses and rent is paid by the government at a level those on minimum wage can’t afford, distorting the market.

Salaries aren’t included in inflation, inflation is calculated by comparing the cost of a ‘basket’ of goods/ services. You put pay up and the cost of those goods/ services goes up, or there’s more money sloshing around which also pushes up inflation.

The April minimum wage increase and employer NI changes with push up costs, and therefore inflation again.