Moving to London from Thailand

[JustbackfromBangkok]

Any advice would be appreciated.

Family friends moving to London for 2 years on a research scholarship (medicine). Both doctors but not allowed a working visa, one adult has the research scholarship.
2 primary school age DC.
Will be living on home country research grant of £1200 per month plus their savings.
Need to find 2 bedroom flat to rent with access to Circle, District and Piccadilly line or bus routes into Fulham area.
I know they will have to look some distance away and I am doing some googling.
I am wondering whether they will be able to find a school for their DC?
The person on the research scholarship will not be paid for any patient care they do. They have paid for private health insurance for the family and are aware they will need to cover rent, bills and council tax.
I know it is a big ask, but the grant is a huge amount of money in Thailand, but won't stretch very far in London.
We are going to have them stay with us when they first arrive, but our location really isn't near enough, plus they would all be squashed in one room.
I am doing some research, but I know Mumsnetters are brilliant for advice and local knowledge.
Many thanks in advance.

Bumping now the UK is waking up.
Having spent a couple of hours googling I don't think they are going to be able to afford it.
I think the researcher is going to have to come over alone. But 2 years is a long time to leave the DC.

£1200 a month quite frankly is fuck all. You’d struggle to afford to be comfortable in Manchester/a reasonable bit of Leeds on that much

That's just not enough money.

I know. I realise that now.
I don't think it is doable.
It is a shame because they are excited about the opportunity but they just have no idea.

Will their visas allow them to work whilst here?

If not, they may need to look into doing a bit of "cash in hand" work to make ends meet. Babysitting or similar.

Registering the kid in school should be simple once they have a permanent address.

Is the grant associated to a London University?

They may be able to apply for university or UoL intercollegiate accommodation, which does have some family options.

Other than that I would anticipate that as you say the researcher may have to come alone.

Can they contact the place where the research will be done and ask if they can help find employment for the spouse?

I'd be surprised if a private landlord would even consider letting (assuming they could find something within budget) to a family of 4 on £14k a year.
Best bet would be to see if there are some family who could take the person on a scholarship in as a lodger, whilst the other remains at home with the kids,

Can they contact the place where the research will be done and ask if they can help find employment for the spouse?

Not when OP has already said they can't get working visas.

No work visa allowed.
TBH I don't think working is going to be easy with their mum working long hours in a hospital and 2 children of primary school age who don't speak English. The children are going to need their dad around I think. Plus he is going to have to take on all the domestic load in a new country. They will have a massive culture shock.
Honestly, I think she is going to have to come alone, or rethink the whole idea.
I don't think she will want to leave her DC though.

Tell them to ask the university for help. Imperial and most of the UoL colleges have family accommodation for this scenario.

Thanks Jaffacake.
I know there used to be accommodation (have lived in some myself - it was very, very grim) but I thought it had all been sold off now.
I will see if they have asked.
My DC found the family accommodation we had very miserable. No way I could have tolerated it for 2 years.
Still - it is worth enquiring.
Maybe I could look into it.

I think either one person or a couple would be doable (house share/studio flat) but not with children.

They might be able to get a studio which would suffice if they were lucky.

Surely they have looked up house prices and costs

Yes university accommodation - there must be something!

I think they have looked up some info but I think they are confused by the cost of "shared accommodation".
I am going to gather more information - I only just met them - they are friends of DH's family. He has about a million cousins so family friends include lots of people I have never met
They seem nice, intelligent people but they have never been to UK or Europe. They wouldn't really know or understand just how expensive and different life is in the UK.

I used to work for a research institute and this was a common problem. We had a number of researchers who ended up not coming because the figures just didn't work.

We once brought over some junior researchers from the Far East on similar figures. They had cheap accommodation (£500 a month), but no cooking or laundry facilities. We advised them to walk to work (central London) or get buses and other ways to cut costs, like buying a microwave and kettle for their rooms. Anyway, they were so miserable, they ended up going home early because they couldn't afford to survive in central London.

£1200 per month is going to be tight for ONE person to live in London.

I assumed that meant no visas for "working as doctors" and maybe the uni could facilitate work for the spouse. They can only say no.

.... I realise I didn't come up with any solutions for you. I was just trying to highlight that this isn't an uncommon problem within the scientific research community.

Honestly I am grateful for everybody's input and advice.
I am going to email the university's accommodation service, but I think it is unlikely they will offer anything for the family. It isn't as if the researcher is a key worker; there are probably lots of people who need it more.
I think the offer of a research grant in the UK is a big status thing here and very good for the CV. In reality you have to be mega rich to afford it and this couple are upper middle class by Thai standards, which is not rich enough.

The only way it will work is if the one with the scholarship does it alone. To be honest, I'm surprised their visa even allows them to bring their kids? I thought you had to wait 5 years?

In reality you have to be mega rich to afford it

It sounds a bit like unpaid internships.

In theory it's a great opportunity, in reality only the very privileged can afford to take up that opportunity.

I have no idea about the visa tbh. I didnt think to ask.
Although the other Thai doctors I know who did research in the UK didnt bring their children. That is certainly more usual because the dc are looked after by grandparents and helpers anyway.

Yes, Trills, it is.

It's definitely not possible for a family of 4 with no recourse to public funds/ ability to work. I don't actually think they would get visas without demonstrating greater funds to support the family - certainly you need this for certain masters study (although I could be wrong on that).